


Felicity of Themiscyra

by laxit21, mewmew666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU, Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amazons - Freeform, BAMF Felicity Smoak, Mythology References, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, olicity au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-06-15 03:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 48,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15404064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewmew666/pseuds/mewmew666
Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man's world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.





	1. Chapter 1

**Starling City- May 2013**

The room began to shake as the second Markov device went off.

“Oliver?” Felicity said into the comms. She wasn’t too proud to admit she was scared. The city was falling apart, she was trapped underground and she didn’t even know of anyone could hear her.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” Another tremor shook the building and a bunch of lightbulbs exploded. “The damage seems to be contained on the east side, past Wells Street.”

“Laurel…” She could hear Oliver saying. She guessed he went to make sure she was safe.

“Felicity, what’s the damage to the foundry?” Digg asked her.

“I- I don’t know. I’m scared to look. I’m pretty sure the doorway is blocked, so I’m gonna need some help.” She answered.

“Stay right where you are. Don’t try to move anything. We’ll get you out of there.”

“Ok, can you- can you just keep talking please?” Felicity begged. “Otherwise I might lose my mind.”

“Never thought I’d see the day you didn’t have something to say.” Digg said trying to lighten the mood.

“Well, if I start talking, its gonna devolve into me discussing how scared I feel right now and how I think the ceiling might cave in on me and then I’m gonna start having a panic attack and-.”

“Ok, I get it. I ever tell you why I play the sax?” Digg asked her.

“No, you didn’t.”

About fifteen minutes later, the connection cut off. Felicity was surprised it had lasted this long. Of course, as soon as she lost the comms, the building began shaking again. A few chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling this time.

“They’re on the way. It’s gonna be fine. Just don’t freak out until after they get here.” she said to herself.

After several more tremors, more pieces of the building falling in and what felt like days, she could hear shouting coming from the top of the stairs.

“Felicity? Felicity!” Oliver was yelling.

“Oh, thank god.” She said before shouting back. “I’m down here!” She ran up the staircase as far as she could.

“We’re gonna get out of there, just hold on. There’s a bunch of rubble blocking the door.”

“Not like I can really go anywhere.” She said to herself.

From her side of the rubble, Felicity could hear Oliver and John debating the safest way to move the rubble to get her out. Oliver wanted to work quickly. He’d failed to stop the Undertaking. Tommy died because of him and the city was on fire. Digg wanted to work smart. Verdant’s structural integrity was compromised when the first tremor started. One wrong move would bring the building down, trapping everyone down there and possibly killing them.

“Will you two pull it the frack together and get me out of here?” Felicity yelled. “I know calling tonight a rough night is an understatement, but you need to focus.” The yelling caused some of the debris on Felicity’s side to shift. The way it was situated, it would fall towards her. “Wait, stop.”

“Hold on, we’ve gotten some of the smaller pieces of debris out of the way.”

“Stop what you’re doing.” She said in a scared voice.

“We’re almost there, it’ll be okay.”

“Oliver, just stop!” she shouted, much louder than earlier.

The large piece of concrete fell towards Felicity. Not knowing what else to do, she closed her eyes and held her arms out, as if to brace the piece of concrete.

“I really shouldn’t have ignored my mom’s call this morning.” She said as she prepared for the concrete to crush her.

She opened her eyes when she didn’t feel herself fall down the staircase or get squished underneath the concrete. Her arms had stopped the block in its tracks. Felicity’s arms were the only thing keeping it from falling and crushing her.

“How am I doing this?” she said before focusing on the matter at hand. “Ok, what do I do with this? I can’t hold this forever and I can’t just let it go.”

“What was that?” Digg yelled from the other side.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” She yelled back. Doing her best to keep the same amount of force on the chunk, Felicity maneuvered herself so that she was between the slab and the wall. “Here goes nothing.” she said to herself as she pushed it sideways off of the stairs. “Wow, when they say adrenaline makes you do impossible things, they aren’t kidding.”

As soon as the slab was out of the way, the door opened.

“Are you okay? We heard something heavy fall.” Oliver asked.

“Yeah, some concrete fell but I dodged out of the way. I’m fine. How are you?” Felicity said.

“Exhausted and sore.” Digg answered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Felicity make Oliver return from Lian Yu and Felicity meets a new friend

**October 2013-Lian Yu**

Felicity and Digg’s pilot began speaking, but the only word either of them could make out was ‘Lian Yu’. The blonde nervously looked out the window.

“I think that means we’re here.” Digg said. He walked towards the back of the plane and felicity turned around to look at him.

“You said the parachutes were just in case!”

“Yeah, just in case we made it here.” He told her as he put one on. “Come on.”

“No.”

The pair jumped out of the plane and soon found themselves on the rocky shore of the island. The first thing Felicity did was throw up. They walked from the beach further into the island’s interior. At one point in the jungle, Digg stopped, thinking he heard something. he shook the feeling off and Felicity took a step forward. She instantly heard a distinct ‘click’.

“Digg?”

John pulled out a knife and bent down to take a look. “Don’t move. It’s a landmine. I’m gonna try to disarm it.”

“You can’t.” A voice, Oliver’s voice, yelled from the trees. They turned to see him, shirtless, standing on a tree branch behind them. “Diggle, back away. Felicity, don’t move!” He shot an arrow at one of the other trees.

When she felt Digg move away from her, Felicity panicked and moved her foot slightly off the landmine. “Oh frack.” She said to herself. Realizing she didn’t have enough time to think of anything else, she jumped away from the landmine as far as she could. Moments later, it went off.

“I told you not to move.” Oliver growled after he landed next to John.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move that fast.”

“I panicked, ok?” Felicity responded.

“You’re a hard man to find.” Digg said to Oliver.

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

They followed Oliver to the plane fuselage where they talk Oliver into coming back to Starling City. His family and the family business needed him, even if ready to be the Hood again.

* * *

 

**Starling City**

Digg and Oliver got off the elevator to find Felicity waiting at the door. “They’re in the conference room. Just FYI, no one is eating the bagels.”

The trio walked into the conference room where Isabel Rochev was waiting. The next few minutes consisted of Oliver and Isabel going back and forth about the hostile takeover and what Oliver would do to prevent that. the meeting was interrupted when men in masks got off the elevator and rushed into the room.

“Oliver Queen, you have failed this city!” one of them yelled.

Oliver stood frozen. John yelled for everyone to get down and began firing at the intruders. Oliver got Isabel out of the room, and was coming back for Felicity when he found himself staring down one of the attackers. Suddenly, the man went down, due to Felicity hitting him in the head with a piece of wood.

The others continued shooting, and with no other way out, Oliver grabbed Felicity and jumped out the window. They crashed into another office three floors down.

“You okay?” Oliver asked her after they made a non-graceful landing in the unoccupied office.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The blonde answered. Her glasses were slightly askew but she was surprisingly unharmed. She didn’t have any cuts from the glass or rug burn from skidding on the carpet. Oliver wasn’t upset that she was perfectly fine, but it was certainly unexpected.

 

Three days later, thanks to Walter and some genius on Oliver’s part, Oliver had managed to stop Isabel from taking over QC. He still only owned 50% of the company, so he had to work alongside the woman, but the company was safe enough for now. Felicity, however, wasn’t entirely happy about how things played out. She still had a job, but it was as Oliver’s executive assistant. He was very lucky Felicity couldn’t hack his accounts and bankrupt him without practically handing Queen Consolidated to Isabel.

Felicity was still seething as she stood in the Starling City Museum. The Queen family had been long-time patrons of the museum, and given the situation with his mother, Oliver was expected to make an appearance at their charity gala. Felicity got dragged there as Oliver’s plus-one, since no one would think twice about his EA being there.

“You’re not enjoying the exhibit?” A woman’s voice said from next to her.

Felicity turned to look and saw one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen. The woman had dark hair, supermodel good looks and she was at least four inches taller than Felicity. The woman seemed to be expecting an answer, so the blonde stuttered one out.

“No, I like art, it’s just- I got dragged here by my boss and get to spend the whole night having to keep track of him so other people can talk to him. that’s not to say I don’t like my boss, it’s just-”

“Your secret is safe with me.” the woman said with a small smile. “I’m Diana Prince.”

“Felicity Smoak.” She answered. “Why were you invited to this shindig?”

“I’m a curator at a museum in Paris. I took a leave of absence a few months ago to come here.”

“That’s….impressive. Why here though?”

“The quake earlier this year caused damage to this and another museum in the city. I volunteered to help restore them and ensure the exhibits were well-treated during the repairs. The Louvre will still be there when I return.”

“You work at the Louvre?” Felicity asked, even more awestruck.

“Yes, I am the curator for the Department of Antiquities.” She answered. “What do you think of this piece?” she pointed to the statue closest to where they were.

“I like it. it’s well sculpted I guess. You’re the expert, so I feel a little weird talking about it with you.”

“I’m an expert, so I could tell you it was sculpted in 1523 and who carved it. I might be able to tell you how it came to Starling, but I can’t tell you what you think of it. That’s something I can’t inform you of or tell you if its right or wrong.” Diana said.

“Oh.” Felicity said. “I’m sure you have other people to talk to.”

“Perhaps, but I’m enjoying speaking with you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Felicity bond, some hints are dropped and a secret is revealed.

About a week after the gala at the museum, Felicity was in a much better mood. She and Diana had exchanged numbers at the event and had been texting back and forth all week. Felicity was one of the few people Diana had met outside of work. Diana was the only friend Felicity had that wasn’t involved in Arrow business. She was surprised she had so much in common with the other woman. They both were only children. Both had moved away from home for work and they shared somewhat of a love for art. Obviously, Diana had a deeper love, but the blonde could understand why she felt the way she did. She knew Oliver didn’t want to say it, but he was shocked that Felicity and Diana hit it off so well at the gala. No one could have predicted that. Diana seemed to always be composed and know what to say, while Felicity seemed to always be saying the wrong thing. Still, they became fast friends.

In terms of Arrow business, Sara Lance had come to Starling and the team was surprised to discover she was alive. She was the mysterious woman in black who’d been patrolling the streets the last few weeks. Sara’s stay wasn’t very long, since she was on the run from the League of Assassins and the longer she stayed in Starling, the more in danger her family would be.

Felicity’s day had been going good so far. Oliver was on time for his earliest appointment for once and today was supposed to be an Isabel-free day. It was a little bit before noon when Oliver opened the door to his office and called out to her. “Today’s gonna be a working lunch. Can you call and get our usual from Callahans?”

“I’ll call in your order, or you can do it yourself because you have hands that work, but I’m going out for lunch.” She said without looking up. She picked up the phone and dialed it. She ordered Oliver’s food and ended the call. “See, not that difficult.”

“We were supposed to go out to lunch today?” He asked. He didn’t remember them making plans for today and felt bad for forgetting.

“No, just me. I’m having lunch with a friend. I do have friends other than you and Digg.” Felicity told him.

“Oh, well, have fun. I’ll see you at 1.” He told her as she got up to leave. Felicity’s timing was perfect, because she just missed running into Isabel on her way out.

As the blonde walked towards Corrado’s, she could see Diana coming in the opposite direction. They got to the door at the same time.

“Ah, Felicity.”

“Hey, Diana. How’s it going?”

“Well, and yourself?”

“Ok, I guess. Work’s not super great.”

“You aren’t happy as Mr. Queen’s assistant?” She asked as they were seated.

“I didn’t wanna be his assistant in the first place. No offense to assistants, but I didn’t go to school for that. I’m a computer scientist, not a secretary. I only agreed to take the job as a favor and I’m regretting it. Oliver’s not even the problem, it’s Isabel.”

“Isabel?”

“Rochev, the other CEO. She kinda hates me for no reason and always tries to make me look bad.” Felicity admitted. “I’d rather not talk about it. How are the museum restorations coming?”

“If she wants to make you look bad, it is because she feels threatened by you. Don’t let her get to you. The restorations are going well enough, I suppose. We discovered some of the damage to the east wing was more extensive than previously thought. A few pieces were damaged and one was destroyed as a result.”

“That’s too bad. Were they really rare?”

“I’m not sure. They were part of a modern art exhibit, so I don’t know much about them other than the damage they sustained. It upsets me regardless, seeing art being destroyed.” The dark-haired woman said.

“Right, your expertise is in antiquities. How’d you get into the field?”

“My mother. Growing up, she taught me so much about the Greeks and Romans, including their art, lives and beliefs. It was almost as if I lived there. When I left home, I gravitated towards the antiquities because it reminded me of home. My knowledge attracted the Louvre’s attention and the rest is history.”

“How are you even real?” Felicity asked rhetorically. “You’re- I mean- you know you’re gorgeous, and incredibly smart and you’re an expert in your field. I don’t think you’re actually human.”

“I never said I was.” Diana joked. “How did decide to go into computer science?”

“My dad. He was a big tech-guy and it’s always made sense to me. When he wasn’t around anymore, I kinda retreated into computers for solace. My mom and I aren’t super close, and computers were the one thing that didn’t change in my life.”

For the rest of lunch, the two women stayed away from the heavy subjects and discussed boring stuff, like places they’d been, places they wanted to go, favorite things. Eventually, Felicity’s lunch break was over and she had to go back to work. They made plans to have dinner in a few days.

Felicity got to the top floor right as Isabel was leaving. She made a comment on her way out about Felicity not being dedicated to her job. The blonde was in too good a mood and just let it bounce off of her.

 

Two days later, Felicity was getting ready to meet Diana for dinner when there was a knock on her door. Her car was in the shop, so Diana was picking her up. Thinking Diana was early, she went to answer it.

“Wow, you’re really early, I- Mom?”

“Ah!” Donna yelled, jumping up and down. “I’m so excited! Are you excited?”

“Excited for what?”

Her mom instantly sobered. “Our visit. Didn’t you get my text?”

“To send a text, you actually have to press send.” Felicity told her mother for probably the 80th time.

“Oh. So, you didn’t know I was coming.”

“Nope.”

“Then who were you expecting when you answered the door?”

“A friend. She and I are having dinner.” Felicity said. “I guess I should call her and reschedule.”

“No, no, you don’t have to do that. I can handle a night on my own. Go hang out with your friend.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.” Felicity said. she loved her mother, she just didn’t like that her mother showed up unannounced.

The pair did some catching up while Felicity got ready. About twenty minutes after Donna showed up, there was another knock on the door. Felicity went to answer it.

“Sorry, I am running a little late.” Diana said. Felicity was about to respond when something fell over. “Are you okay? Is someone else here?”

“What? Yeah, I’m fine. I just- I have an unexpected visitor. Who keeps knocking things off of my coffee table.” Felicity said.

“I didn’t mean to knock it over.” Donna said from behind the door. She moved to the other side of Felicity. “Hi, I’m- Diana? What are you doing here?”

“Aunt Donna?” Diana responded.

“You know he- wait Aunt Donna?” Felicity said. she looked in between her mother and Diana. “Someone start explaining.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are given and Count Vertigo's return ends differently

“Someone start explaining.” Felicity said. Her new friend Diana just called Donna ‘Aunt Donna’, which meant Diana was her cousin. She was her cousin and either didn’t know or didn’t think to tell Felicity. She wasn’t sure which one she wanted it to be.

“I- my mother and your mother are siblings.” Diana began to say. “Donna left home many years ago and hasn’t returned since.”

“Is that why you’re here? Hippolyta wants me to come home?” Donna asked.

“She does not know I am here.” Diana answered.

Donna was about to ask something else when Felicity interrupted. “No, no, no. You’re gonna wait. What home are you talking about?”

“Themiscyra.” Diana said confused. Felicity should’ve known about Themiscyra. She thought Donna had told her at least a little bit about her past.

“I never told her anything about the island.” Donna interjected. “Remember when you asked about my parents and I never gave you any answers?”

“Yeah. I remember.” Felicity said.

“I-We come from an island called Themiscyra. It’s hidden from this world- man’s world- by the gods.” Donna explained. “Years ago, I wanted to see man’s world, so I left home. I saw the world and met your father. We had you and I stayed here, to be with you.”

“You couldn’t have taken both of us back to the island?” Felicity asked. “Or me, after he left?”

“Themiscyra is an island only of women, Felicity. Your father couldn’t step foot there. After he left, I didn’t want to tear you away from the life that you knew.” Donna also wasn’t ready to face her sister, Queen Hippolyta, at the time. Or even now.

“Ok, so you’re from some magical, women-only island. That doesn’t explain why you couldn’t have told me the truth years ago.”

“The women of Themiscyra aren’t normal women, Felicity.” Donna started.

“We’re Amazons.” Diana finished.

“Amazons? Like Greek mythology Amazons?”

“The myths aren’t completely correct, but yes. We’re the same Amazons as in the myths.” Diana said. “We have gifts, given to us by the gods. Strength, stamina, durability. We aren’t like normal humans.”

Felicity took a deep breath as she processed everything. “Ok, so you’re an Amazon. You’re an Amazon. You both are super-people. And wait- why did you really come to Starling?”

“To keep an eye on you.” Diana said. “I knew you lived here and after the earthquake, I volunteered to come here to make sure you were okay. I was also curious to see if you’d inherited the same gifts your mother and I have.”

“I didn’t. There’s nothing special about me.” Felicity said. “I guess you can go home. You too, mom.”

Felicity didn’t want Diana to leave, or her mom. She was just incredibly hurt that they both had lied to her. She also wasn’t sure she believed their story. Amazons weren’t real. These ‘gifts’ they expected her to have weren’t real. Whether the story was real or not, both of them had lied to her and she didn’t like being lied to.

“Baby-“

“Felicity-“

“No, just no. You both- I need to- I need to think. I’m gonna go clear my head. Don’t be here when I get back.” She walked out the door, leaving an upset Diana and Donna behind.

“Why did you never tell her?”

“Because by the time she got old enough to know, I was scared this would happen.” Donna admitted. “And when she didn’t seem to have the abilities we have, I guess I stupidly thought she never needed to know.”

Diana didn’t understand her reasons but nodded in acknowledgement all the same. “We should respect her wishes and leave.”

“No, she can be as pissed as she wants at me, for as long as she wants, but I’m not leaving. You shouldn’t either. She’s hurt we lied to her, me more than you, but she doesn’t really want us gone. She’ll be back in less than an hour.”

“No, she won’t.” Diana said. “I’m pretty sure she’s gone to her ‘night job’.”

“Night job?”

“I discovered a few weeks ago that Felicity works alongside the Starling City vigilante, helping him clean up the city.”

“She does? How do you know?”

“I have….run into him, once or twice. I heard him ask her, by name, to track someone via traffic cameras.”

“What were you doing ‘once or twice’ when you ran into him?” Donna asked. She crossed her arms and gave Diana her best ‘disappointed mother’ look. It was surprisingly effective. She even almost added 'young lady' to the end of the question.

“Helping protect the citizens of Starling who need it most.”

Diana didn’t patrol the streets like Oliver and Digg, or even Sara, did. Instead, she just kept an ear out and if she heard something, someone needing help, she went out and helped. The police hadn’t caught wind of her because no one she helped had told them about her. They all claimed a random passerby intervened.

Felicity stomped down the stairs of the foundry. She was still really mad about what happened with her mother and Diana. Digg and Oliver both looked up when they heard the door slam.

“Thought you wouldn’t be by until later.”

“Change of plans.” She said in an angry voice.

Patrol was fairly routine that night and Felicity got home around 3am to see her mother asleep on the couch and Diana gone. At least one of them had listened to her.

Felicity was up and out the door before Donna woke up the next morning. She wasn’t ready to talk to her mother yet, and decided avoidance was better than starting a conversation she didn’t have time to finish.

She was surprised when Digg showed up at QC. Today was Moira’s trial and she expected John to be with Oliver at the courthouse. He wasn’t looking too good and said Oliver had sent him home. She was babbling about her fear of needles when Digg collapsed.

She got John to the foundry and called Oliver. After he got there, they discovered he had traces of Vertigo in his system. A few hours later, the Count made an announcement to the city. Saying Digg, and anyone else feeling odd could get relief, as long as they got more Vertigo. It wasn’t until John and Felicity were trying to figure out how he got exposed that they found the Count’s trail. The Vertigo was in the flu shots being given out around the city.

With Oliver wrapped up with his family, and Digg dealing with withdrawal, it was up to Felicity to investigate the flu truck to see if it was the source of the outbreak. She tracked the truck, found the Vertigo and ran directly into the Count himself. She should’ve sensed it was a trap.

He dragged her to QC and called Oliver, hoping it would draw him out. Felicity felt bad for thinking it, but she really hoped it worked.  While he waited, the Count started playing with her hair. The more he did it, the angrier she got. He left her alone in the conference room to set up his plan, and Felicity panicked, so she started tugging at the zip ties keeping her stuck to the chair. Surprisingly, she managed to break one of the off and loosen the other. The Count came back into the room right as she broke free.

“Well, aren’t you full of surprises.” He commented. “Still, I need to do something to punish your boss.” He took a step towards her with a syringe of Vertigo in his hand. Felicity tried to escape the room, but he blocked the exit. “Come on now. This is nothing personal.” He kept advancing.

When he got close enough to grab her, she pushed him away. “Get away from me!” Instead of using pushing him just far enough away to escape, he wound up going through the window behind him. He landed on a parked car and the blonde didn’t need to look out the window to know he was dead.

“Felicity?” Oliver asked in a confused voice. He’d arrived when the Count was chasing her around the conference table and seen what happened.

“I- he- I didn’t mean to.” she said. He’d gone a good ten feet from her and out the window. Not even Oliver could’ve pushed someone with that much force.

“I know, are you okay?”

The next hour or so was a blur. Oliver checked her over, the police came to get the body and Felicity moved through it in a daze. When she got home, both Diana and Donna were in her living room.

“Those gifts from the gods you mentioned, is superstrength one of them?” Felicity asked.

Both women nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna and Diana have explained, now it's time for Felicity to do some explaining of her own.

When Felicity got home, both Diana and Donna were in her living room.

“Those gifts from the gods you mentioned, is superstrength one of them?” Felicity asked.

Both women nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“I kinda- Mom, I work with the Arrow. I’m one of his partners.” The hacker admitted.

Donna already knew that, thanks to Diana, but didn’t want to upset Felicity even more. She also hadn’t fully reacted until she heard her daughter admit it herself. “What? That’s your night job? It’s dangerous. You could get hurt because of him. How could you do this?”

“Because he wants to make this city a better place and so do I. Arguing about the Arrow isn’t why I admitted the truth. Did either of you see on the news about the Vertigo druggings?” Both nodded. “We were trying to find the guy responsible and figure out how he did it. I had a lead on him, which I followed but it turned out to be a trap. He kinda took me hostage to draw the Arrow out.”

“He did?”

“Yes, and I broke the plastic ties he used to cuff me to a chair. Then, when he tried to stop me from escaping, I kinda….pushed him.”

“Okay?”

“Hard enough for him to go out the window and down about 30 floors.” She finished. “He’s dead.”

“I am sorry. That’s a difficult thing to come to terms with.” Her cousin told her.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet, to be honest. Anyway, that’s why I’m asking about superstrength.”

“Has anything similar happened before? Strength you couldn’t explain?”

“I stopped a chunk of concrete from falling on me after the Undertaking, but I thought it was adrenaline.” She shrugged. “And a few things after I came back from….my trip to Hong Kong.”

Felicity had told everyone she was going there on vacation when she and Digg went to get Oliver from Lian Yu. It was as close to the truth as she could get without giving away Oliver’s identity. And their plane from Starling landed in Hong Kong, so technically she did travel there.

“What things?”

“I didn’t really go to Hong Kong okay? I went to Lian Yu to bring Oliver Queen home. I stepped on a landmine while we were there. Somehow, I managed to get far enough away not to, you know, blow up in the span of a few milliseconds. And when a meeting I was in at QC got attacked by fake Arrows, I jumped out a window, crashed through another window and didn’t get a scratch on me or even get tired.”

“You have the gifts we have. Strength, speed, durability.” Diana said.

“We’re gonna have a conversation about hiding things from your mother.” Donna said. She nearly added ‘young lady’ at the end of it.

“We should leave tonight.” Diana said.

“Leave? Why? Where are we going?” Felicity asked.

“Themiscyra, so you can learn to control and use your gifts.”

“I can already control them, so I’m fine. And even if I wasn’t, why can’t you help me with that here?” the blonde asked.

“You’ve barely scratched the surface of your gifts and already you’re having trouble controlling them.” Donna said. “You need training. Somewhere its safe for you and everyone else.”

“Why are you acting like I’m gonna lose it and start hurting people?”

“I don’t think you’re going to ‘lose it’, I’m concerned you’ll underestimate yourself and accidentally hurt someone. And if that happened, I know you well enough to know you’d never forgive yourself.” Diana said.

“Ok, but I have a job and a life here. What am I supposed to tell people? I can’t just disappear.”

“There is a family situation you need to take care of, so you’re taking a leave of absence. It’s true, in a sense.” Donna said.

“You won’t be leaving forever, just for now. It’ll be better in the long run.”

“Fine. We need to wait a few days though, so I can tell the right people I’m gonna be away.” The hacker acquiesced.

* * *

 

**Foundry-Next Night**

Felicity had taken the coward’s way out when she informed QC about her leave of absence. She didn’t say anything to Oliver, despite knowing he’d probably find out the same day, and instead went to HR and put in the paperwork. Judging by the usual speed that HR worked at, she figured Oliver would either get the notice at the very end of the work day, after the blonde had left, or when he came in the next day.

As he entered the foundry, Felicity could tell by his face which one it was. “What is this?”  the archer asked, gripping a piece of paper.

“My leave of absence notification. The one I submitted to HR this morning.”

“I know what it is. I wanna know why you submitted one.”

“Because I need some time away from work. For personal reasons.” The blonde answered.

Oliver instantly was less angry and more concerned. “What personal reasons? Are you ok? Is this about what happened last night?” She’d been in shock at the Count died and he hadn’t been able to talk about any of it with her. He wasn’t surprised if that happening triggered this decision. “You were trying to defend yourself. what happened wasn’t your fault.”

“It’s not about that, Oliver. It’s- there’s a family situation that’s come up that I need to deal with. And I can’t do that here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Felicity, I didn’t- do you need anything? Anything I can do to help?” he asked.

“Nope. There’s nothing you can do. I’ll come back if you really, really need my help, but right now, I need to be with my family.”

“Of course.” He told her. “I hope everything turns out okay.”

“Me too.”

When Digg arrived, Felicity explained the situation to him as well. his conversation with Felicity was almost the same as Oliver’s, although it started out a lot calmer. After patrol was done that night, Felicity went home and packed a small bag of essentials, mostly consisting of her phone, tablet and portable chargers for both. She, her mother and her cousin left Starling early two days later for the island.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity arrives in Themiscyra and her training begins

Felicity looked out at the water as the boat neared what Diana called ‘the barrier’. The water was almost impossibly clear and the sight was beautiful to behold. The blonde was torn out of her staring when Donna sat down next to her.

“We’re almost there.”

“I wasn’t gonna-“

“You had ‘are we there yet’ face.”

“No, this is my ‘I can’t believe this is real’ face. Also, we’re in the middle of the ocean. There’s no island in sight.” Felicity pointed out.

“The island’s hidden from man’s world. We’re closer than you think.” Her mother said knowingly.

A few minutes later, the ship passed through a force field of some kind. When Felicity turned to look, the ocean behind her looked different. Ahead of her, she could see a tropical island, which she guessed was their destination.

“Felicity, welcome to Themiscyra.” Diana said as she stared at the beautiful island in front of her.

“There’s no place like home.” Donna said quietly.

The next few minutes were silent as Diana steered towards the island. They anchored and took a rowboat to the shore. Upon landing on the island, the trio took a few steps onto the sand when two Amazons appeared to greet the intruders.

“Stop. Who goes-?”

“Really Antiope?” Donna said, looking at one of the warriors.

“Donna, you have returned.” The blonde woman said, lowering her sword slightly. “Why now?”

“I’ll wait for Hippolyta to get here before launching into the story. I’d rather only tell it once. You look good.”

“You look like you’ve gotten soft, sister.” Antiope said. She, like Hippolyta, wasn’t happy when Donna announced her desire to leave the island and see man’s world. They knew they couldn’t stop her, and hoped it was a temporary thing. Then, Donna stayed away for several decades.

“How many sisters do you have?” Felicity asked from behind Donna. This drew both of the Amazonian guards’ attention.

“Who are you?”

“Uh, I’m your- Donna is my mother.” the hacker answered nervously. She’d barely met this woman, but she was family, and wanted her to like her.

Antiope shot Donna a look and was about to ask for an explanation when another blonde woman, who looked very important, rode a horse onto the beach and dismounted. She walked towards the group. Her pace sped up when she saw Diana.

“Diana, I- Donna?” Hippolyta said.

“Hello.” Donna replied.

It was silent. Felicity shifted nervously behind her mother, which caught the queen’s attention. She studied Felicity for a moment before turning back to Donna. “Motherhood has made you fat.” Donna didn’t respond, but nodded at Hippolyta’s stomach. Seconds later, both women began to laugh, breaking the tension. “it’s good to see you. It’s been a very long time.”

“I know.” she sighed before gesturing to Felicity. “Hippolyta, Antiope, this is my daughter Felicity. honey, these are my sister, your aunts, Antiope and Hippolyta.”

“Hi.” She waved. Diana gave her a fond smile. Antiope looked unsure about her, and Hippolyta looked curious.

“Let’s move this conversation elsewhere. I feel like there’s a very long story behind why you’re here.” the queen said.

“It’s not that long really.” Felicity said. “I- Since my mom is an Amazon, I have the gifts you have. They didn’t manifest, I guess that’s the right word, until recently. And I kinda need help, you know, controlling them.”

“You didn’t teach her to control her gifts as she grew?” Antiope asked.

“I didn’t know she had them until a few days ago.” Donna admitted.

“I didn’t know she was an Amazon. If I hadn’t met Diana and she hadn’t accidentally revealed she knew my mom-how’d you even know my name if we hadn’t met and you hadn’t seen my mom in years? Anyway, it wasn’t until that happened that I found out that you all, or this place, existed.” The hacker said. “Sorry, I babble a bit when I’m nervous.”

“There is nothing to be nervous about.” Diana said to comfort her.

“Your mother told us she was planning to use the name ‘Smoak’ in man’s world. In case we needed to find her for some reason. Discovering Donna had a child wouldn’t have been difficult.” Hippolyta explained, not taking her eyes off Donna. “Let’s go into the village and continue this conversation there.”

They rode pretty much in silence. Felicity was torn between trying to figure out why everyone was so tense and taking in everything around her. The island was breathtaking, from the vegetation to the architecture. It seemed like it had come from another world, which it had in a way. Finally, they arrived at Hippolyta’s palace and dismounted their horses. They were then ushered into a room by Diana.

“It has been years since I saw this place.”

“Decades, if I’m not mistaken.” Hippolyta said.

“You’re the one who told me to go.”

“I didn’t mean for you to stay away. I thought it was simple curiosity. And you would be away for a few years at most.” The queen admitted.

“It wouldn’t have been enough for me.” Donna said. “You know that.”

The room fell into silence. Hippolyta and Antiope were clearly still angry that Donna had left and the queen at least was hurt that she’d stayed away for so long. Donna, however, didn’t regret doing either because if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have Felicity. She didn’t know how to express that, however.

“Well, this is awkward.” Felicity said. They all turned to look at her. “We were all thinking it. Don’t lie.”

 “She’s certainly your daughter.” Hippolyta said. “Your training will start tomorrow with Diana and Antiope.”

“Cool.”

“Donna, your quarters are in the same place. Felicity will stay in the room next to yours.” The queen said. “Diana, I would like a word with you.” She wanted to know how Diana had met Felicity, why she thought to look for her and what ‘incidents’ happened to lead Diana and Donna deciding to bring her here.

“Yes, mother.”

The next morning, Felicity found herself at the training grounds, feeling incredibly self-concious. Every Amazon had been training for years or decades, in some cases centuries. She had the two self-defense lessons Digg had given her and common sense under her belt. It was intimidating.

A few turned to look at her when she approached, so Felicity gave a small wave and said, “Hi….”

“You are Donna’s daughter?” An Amazon who looked to be the same age as her aunts asked.

“Uhm yeah. My name’s Felicity.”

“Welcome to Themiscyra.”

“Thanks.”

One of the younger Amazons was about to ask Felicity a question when Antiope and Donna arrived. “I know some of you will have questions for Felicity. They will have to wait until after we done today.”

The others paired off and began sparring. Felicity wasn’t sure what to do, so she just stood there.

“Let’s see what you can do.” Antiope said handing her a sword.

“That’s- giving me a sword isn’t a good idea. I’ve never used one.” the blonde said nervously.

“Then you will learn today.”

Needless to say, Felicity’s first day didn’t go the way she thought it would. She didn’t hurt herself or anyone else, but clearly she had a lot to learn, and a teacher who would be pushing her hard. After a few hours, Antiope lowered her sword and turned to Donna.

“Your turn. I know you have lost your edge. You’re soft and out of shape.”

“You try giving birth, raising a child and staying in shape. Then come talk to me.” Donna said. She went to fetch her old Amazon armor regardless. She came back a few minutes later, dressed almost identical to Antiope. “This is a little bit tighter than I remember.”

“Tight or not, are you ready?”

“Ready.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity sees Donna in action, and the Amazons are curious about a few things.

“Are you ready?” Antiope asked.

“Ready.” Donna responded.

The general swung her sword, which her sister blocked. The bout looked less like a fight and more like a dance. The grace and control both women had made many of the others stop to watch the fight. Felicity observed with her mouth open. Hearing her mother was an Amazon and seeing for herself what she could do were two very different things. She could hardly believe it was Donna she was watching. Eventually, Antiope managed to disarm Donna and their sparring ended.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Antiope remarked.

Donna shot her a look before moving over to where Felicity and Diana stood.

“That was-“

“I know, I’m a little rusty. Twenty plus years of no practice tends to do that.” she said. 

“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. Or move like that. Ever.” Felicity said.

“Really? Not even Diana?”

“Why would I have seen-?”

“For the time I was in Starling, I occasionally intervened when its citizens needed help.” Diana admitted. “I could not sit by and allow innocent people to suffer when I could help them.”

“You’re the mystery woman Digg saw.”

One night, when the team had been out on patrol, Felicity told them about a robbery taking place. John reached the location first, only to find the thieves already restrained and the intended victim yelling her thanks to a woman who Digg saw leaving the scene but moving too fast to follow.

“I didn’t know he saw me, but yes.”

“Are you three going to talk all day or are we gonna get back to training?” Antiope called from the middle of the field. “Donna, you and Diana will spar. I will partner with Felicity.”

Felicity walked over to her aunt and got ready to fight, and lose, again. “This is gonna be fun.”

“Why are you so sure you will lose? If you start a battle believing you’ll lose, you’ve already lost. The outcome has not been determined yet.” Antiope pointed out. “Let’s begin.”

Felicity lost their sparring match. However, she was able to get a few hits in, which she was proud of. Antiope didn’t say anything good or bad about her performance, just remarked that they’d continue tomorrow.

Everyone went back to the palace, where Hippolyta informed them there was going to be a welcoming feast that night for Diana, Donna and Felicity. They changed and freshened up before heading to the feast. The queen gave a speech welcoming them and everyone began to eat. After the first course, one of the younger Amazons spoke up.

“What is man’s world like?”

“Complicated.” Donna answered. “Most people want to do better, to be better, but they aren’t willing to change in order to do it. They aren’t bad deep down, just reluctant to break away from the way things already are. Some seem to fight and argue just for the sake of arguing. Still, it isn’t bad.”

“Where in that world have you visited?” Another asked.

“I travelled all around it and soon found myself in a city called Las Vegas. A city in the desert where people from all over the world come to forget their lives for a few days. Felicity has seen more of the world more recently.”

They turned to look at her. “I moved away from Las Vegas for school, to Boston. Its one of the oldest cities in the United States. It’s a cool city, unless it’s the winter when it snows like crazy. After college, I moved to Starling City, on the other side of the country, where it rains every other day. I travelled to Russia for work a few months ago. Before that, I travelled to a remote island called Lian Yu. It was rainy and cold and I don’t think anyone wants to go there.”

“Yet, you went.”

“To bring a friend home.”

The queen and Antiope clearly had questions of their own for both Smoaks, but weren’t asking them now for some reason.

“What is humanity like?”

“Flawed. They don’t always think with their heads. They do not always realize peace is preferable to conflict.” Diana answered.

“It’s not only that.” Felicity interjected. “Some of that stuff is deep rooted. Years ago, one group decided they were better than another group because of something superficial like where they were from or what they looked like or what they believed. They used it to justify a lot of hatred and violence. In parts of the world, the hatred is gone but the scars are still there. In other parts, that discrimination is alive and well. Humans are flawed, but I think they want to do better.”

“What are men like? How do they treat you?”

“For centuries, they thought they were better than women. Where I come from, they see us as equals now but it took a long time to get there. I’ve struggled with sexism thanks to my job. My degree is in a male-dominated field so I had to spend a lot of time fighting to be recognized and to earn the respect my male coworkers were automatically given.” Felicity said. “Other than dealing with that, most men I’ve met have treated me well.”

“What do you do in man’s world for a living?”

“I got a job as a computer scientist right out of college. Writing programs, fixing errors, strengthening security measures. Although right now, I’m working as an assistant to help a friend out.” Felicity said.

“When I came to man’s world, I bounced around from place to place. When I wound up in Las Vegas, I found a job as a waitress in a gambling establishment. The rest is history.”

“There is a museum in Europe called the Louvre. I took a job there in the department of antiquities. Now, I am the curator for the department. The exhibits felt familiar to me.”

Diana then spent about five minutes explaining more about the work she did to the others. The room fell silent when she was finished.

“Donna, may I ask you a question?” one of the older Amazons asked. Donna nodded. “Where did you find clay to sculpt a child in man’s world?”

Felicity, who’d been taking a sip of water, choked on the liquid at the question. “What?”

“I didn’t.” Donna answered. “Felicity was not molded from clay.”

“You guys were sculpted from clay?” Felicity asked.

“Diana was sculpted from clay and brought to life by Zeus. Every other Amazon was created by Zeus and the other gods.” Donna said. “You weren’t, I’ve got the stretch marks to prove it.”

“What was that like?”

“Weird, beautiful yet painful at the same time.”

“If she was not made from clay, how-?”

“The human way.”

Two others were about to ask for clarification but Felicity wanted to melt into the floor. She covered her face with her hands and said. “Ok, someone kill me now. I’m gonna die of embarrassment anyway.”

“I apologize.” The same Amazon said. “I did not mean to offend-.”

“We don’t really talk about that kinda stuff in public in man’s world.” Donna said. “You didn’t know and Felicity’s just being dramatic.”

“In my defense, you have a tendency to overshare.”

The feast ended soon enough and the Amazons left. Diana wanted to show her cousin more of the island and dragged her away for a tour. Donna was left alone with her two sisters for the first time since she’d left Themiscyra.

“Say it already.” She said. “You both have questions you want to ask. Or comments you want to make. Say them already.”

Hippolyta and Antiope both opened their mouths to speak.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hippolyta, Antiope and Donna talk, Felicity explores the island and in Starling, a certain blonde genius is missed.

Donna was left alone with her two sisters for the first time since she’d left Themiscyra. “Say it already.” She said. “You both have questions you want to ask. Or comments you want to make. Say them already.”

Hippolyta and Antiope both opened their mouths to speak.

“Who is Felicity’s father?”

“Why did you stay away for so long?”

“His name was Noah Kuttler. I met him after I traveled to Las Vegas. He was a software engineer, that’s where Felicity’s love of computers comes from.”

“Was? He died?” Antiope asked.

“No, he just left. Packed up one day and never came back. Haven’t seen him since.”

Both women held back their comments about men and man’s world, which they’d warned Donna about. “When he left, why didn’t you return then?”

“My daughter. I had a sensitive 7 year old to think about who kept asking if he left because of her. I had a life and a job and friends in Las Vegas, so did she. Too much change too soon isn’t good for kids.”

“You still haven’t explained why you stayed away for so long.” Hippolyta said.

“Because you told me to.” Donna answered. “Remember the argument we had right before I left. You told me that if I left, I couldn’t come back. I took you at your word.”

“I was angry that you wanted to leave. That didn’t mean I never wanted to see you again.” the Queen defended. “I thought you knew that. If you had returned, I wouldn’t have turned you away.”

“Would you have turned her away?” Donna asked. “I never told Felicity about the island because I waited for her to display some Amazonian gift, and it never happened. If she didn’t inherit our gifts, would you still have accepted her?”

“Of course we would have. You are our sister, she is our niece. She does not need to be an Amazon to be important.” Hippolyta said. The sisters fell quiet.

“What happened?” Antiope asked. “You know she has our gifts now. That means something must have happened. What was it?”

“I didn’t know until later, but she displayed strength like ours in a stressful situation. She wrote it off as adrenaline.” They gave her a confused look. “Her body reacting to a stressful or life-threatening situation by allowing her to do thing she couldn’t do normally, like lift a chunk of concrete.” She explained. “She didn’t tell me about it until she was attacked.”

“She was attacked?”

“Yes. She pushed her attacker away from her and he fell out a window. From the 30th floor.” Donna told them. “She came home and asked Diana and I if that meant she was an Amazon. We came here so she could process and learn how to control her strength.”

The two other women were quiet. Killing someone by accident was always difficult to wrestle with. The fact that Felicity not knowing her own strength caused it just made the situation worse.

 

Meanwhile, Diana was showing Felicity around the island. They reached a clearing that gave a panoramic view of the island. “Wow, this place is amazing.” She whispered. “Don’t know why my mom wanted to leave.”

“Curiosity. She wished to see what else was out there. She had been to man’s world before, for battle. She hadn’t seen it in centuries and wondered what had become of it.”

“Centuries? How old is my mom?”

“Thousands of years old. This island was hidden away by Zeus during what scholars call the Greek classical period.” Diana answered.

“Woah.” She said in shock. She’d been told a lot of things recently that challenged the way she saw the world. She was still wrapping her mind around most of it. Her mother’s lifespan was added to the list. “You knew her before she left?”

“She is my aunt. Of course I did.”

“How old were you when she left?”

“Adolescent.” She answered. She had been living for a few decades, but in human terms, Diana was roughly 14 when Donna left. “She’s part of the reason I left the island as well. Some of her curiosity rubbed off on me.”

“Glad it did. I’m glad I got to meet you. She might never have told me the truth if you hadn’t showed up.”

“She was doing what she thought to be right.” Diana defended Donna. “She didn’t want to uproot your life or put you in danger if she didn’t need to.”

“I know that. I can know that and still be unhappy that she lied to me. I- my mom was the only person I had for a long time. She didn’t, or I thought she didn’t, lie to me ever. Then I found out most of what she told me was a lie by omission. I’m allowed to be upset.” She said. “I’ll get over it soon enough. For now, just let me be upset please.” The sun was beginning to set. “You definitely don’t get a view like this in Starling.”

“No, you don’t.”

She wondered what was happening in Starling right now.

* * *

 

**Starling City**

Isabel had a mean look on her face as she walked towards Oliver’s office. Her expression briefly morphed into confusion when she didn’t see Felicity at her desk. Antagonizing Felicity had become her favorite part of the day. Then, the mask went back up.

“I see you have a new assistant. Did Ms. Smoak elect to stop coming to work or have you found a newer model?” Isabel said as she walked into Oliver’s office without knocking.

“Neither. She took a leave of absence.” He said before looking up. “Do you need something?”

“Why did she take a leave of absence?” Felicity being gone changed things. It meant Oliver was down a skilled hacker. It put him in a more vulnerable place in the field. This could mean Slade would accelerate the plan. It could also mean Queen would be more careful, knowing he was a man down. In any case, Isabel needed to inform Slade of this new development. First, however, she needed to know how long or permanent this absence was going to be.

“That’s not your business or mine.” He pointed out. “What do you want?”

“Has that detective from Central City figured out who stole the centrifuge yet?” she asked impatiently.

“Barry Allen isn’t a detective, he’s a CSI. And no, he hasn’t. He also wouldn’t inform us, since it’s a matter for the police.”

The brunette rolled her eyes, scoffed and stormed out of his office.

“Mr. Queen, I’m so sorry. Ms. Rochev-“ the woman filling in for Felicity said.

“Madison, it’s fine.” Felicity had only been gone for a few days, and Oliver was already missing her a lot.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity trains some more, and learns a new skill.

**Themiscyra**

Felicity woke up at dawn the next day to get ready for training. Yesterday had gone okay. She was still nervous about today though. She arrived at the field where the others were. She was surprised to realize that not every Amazon was a warrior. Many of the women at the banquet last night werent. Some were advisors, some were artisans. They all knew how to fight, but most spent their time doing other things.

Just like yesterday, her aunt told everyone to pair off and start fighting. Felicity approached her aunt, and Antiope immediately attacked.

“What the frack? I wasn’t ready.”

“Ready? Do you expect a battle to be fair?” Antiope asked.

“No, but everyone else here has like nine centuries of experience. My first time training to fight was yesterday.” Felicity argued. “So, no I don’t expect a battle to be fair, but this isn’t a battle.”

“I cannot train you the way you need to be trained or help you the way you need if I coddle you every step of the way.”

“I know that. I didn’t ask you to do that and I don’t want you to do that.”

“I am glad we understand each other. I will push you harder than you have been pushed. You will train as hard as Diana has. it’s going to be an unpleasant but ultimately rewarding experience.” She told her niece.

“Let’s get on with it then.” She replied.

Felicity and Antiope sparred and the former thoroughly got her butt kicked, again. As their fight ended, her aunt did mention that today was better than yesterday. Felicity started to smile, when her aunt reminded her not to let it go to her head. She was then paired with Diana.

“I should have warned you she might do that.” Diana said, referring to what happened at the beginning of the training session.

“Nah, I get the feeling she only did it because I wasn’t expecting it. I think we’re on the same page now. Besides, its probably a rite of passage or something.”

“In a way, it is.” Diana conceded.

“Less talking. More sparring.” The general yelled from across the field.

After another hour or so of sparring, Antiope walked over to where Diana and Felicity were. “I think you have done enough unarmed fighting and sword training for today.”

“Ok, what does that mean?”

“Follow me.”

Felicity gave her cousin a confused look before following her aunt away from the field. They walked through a cluster of trees before coming to a clearing a few hundred yards away. Several targets had been set up on the opposite end of the clearing.

“Archery may not be as exciting as sword fighting, but it is a useful skill. One that has served us well in the past.” Antiope told her.

“You want me to learn how to use a bow?” she asked. if only Oliver could see her now.

“Who is Oliver?”

“Oh frack. I said that out loud.” She sighed. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s- did Diana or my mother tell you about the vigilante of Starling City?”

“No, they did not.”

“The city is a dangerous place. He’s trying to save the city from the people who want to destroy or poison it.”

“What does this have to do with archery or your friend Oliver?”

“The vigilante goes by the name ‘The Arrow’ and he’s my friend Oliver. Sometimes I help him in his crusade.” She explained. “Anyway, I’ve seen him practice his skills. Never thought I’d see the day I tried archery.”

“Well, that day has come. Has he taught you anything?”

 “Nope. He does his arrow thing, I do my computer thing. Not a fan of pointy things.”

“You’ll need to get over that.” The general remarked. “Let’s begin. Are you right or left-handed?”

“Right handed, which I know means I hold the bow with my left and aim with my right.” She noticed that much from watching Oliver shoot.

She didn’t respond to that, but instructed Felicity in how to stand when shooting an arrow. “This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised. Remember to look at where you’re aiming. The arrow is going to go where the bow is facing, so if you’re aiming at someone, you’re going to hit them.”

“Got it.” Felicity said. She took a deep breath and aimed at the target. “I’m gonna warn you, I’ve got really bad aim.” She released the arrow and closed her eyes before it hit the target.

“Opening your eyes would be useful.”

“I don’t wanna look. Just tell me how off I was.” Felicity said.

“Not as ‘off’ as you probably think.”  This surprised her, so she opened her eyes and turned towards the targets. The arrow had hit the very, very edge of it, but it was still on the target. “It seems your aim isn’t as bad as you thought. Do it again, except look this time.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity learns a little more about who Donna really is and her life before Vegas

When Felicity was finished with her archery lesson that day, she was surprised at how skilled she actually was. Hand-eye coordination was never something she was good at. Antiope thought some of it was just natural talent. Donna was exceptionally skilled at archery and she claimed it was hereditary. Felicity was too excited that she was good at something to correct her.

Training wrapped up for the day and Felicity sought out her mother for some answers. Her cousin had answered every question she asked them about Donna, but it wasn’t the same as getting answers from the source. She found her mother standing on one of the palace balconies, staring out at the horizon.

“How did training go?” her mother asked without turning around.

“Ok, I guess. I got my butt kicked during sword training, but I found out I’m surprisingly good at archery. Who knew?”

“All that time working with the Arrow must’ve paid off.”

“I didn’t- I don’t go into the field. Today was the first time I’ve even tried to use a bow.” She said. “I kinda-  there’s some things I wanna know. I asked Diana, and I know I could ask one of your sisters but-“

“But it’s not the same as hearing the truth from me.” Donna finished. “Shoot.”

“Why did you leave?”

“I wanted to see the world. I’d been to man’s world. Before the gods hid Themiscyra away. I didn’t get to see very much of it at the time, there were wars to fight. Anyway, I always wondered what happened to it, to them. So, I stole a boat and left.”

“You stole a boat?”

“How else was I supposed to get off the island?” she asked rhetorically. “I explored at first. Greece, Egypt, Canada, one day I found myself in Las Vegas and decided to stay awhile. Then, I met your father.”

“Why didn’t you come back here? I know why you didn’t when I was a kid, but when I moved out and went to college, you could’ve. Why didn’t you?”

“Before I left- Hippolyta and I, and to some extent Antiope, we got into this huge fight. Neither of my sisters thought there was anything worth seeing in man’s world. They thought it was too broken and flawed to care about. One thing led to another and the queen told me if I left I couldn’t come back. I took that literally.”

“She said you couldn’t come back?”

“She was angry, I was angry, we both said things we didn’t mean. But for a long time, I didn’t come back because I didn’t wanna hear ‘I told you so’ coming from her.”

“What wars did you fight in?” Clearly, talking about when she left and why upset Donna, so Felicity dropped the subject and picked a new one.

“Many of the ones I fought in before I left weren’t recorded or have been forgotten about. I believe the Messian War, the last war I fought in, is the only one most historians have heard about. That’s the one that stands out the most to me.”

“Why?”

“There was group of people I met. They were….weird, that’s the only way to put it. it was like they didn’t belong where and when we were fighting. Something just seemed off about them. Still, the two women in the group became close friends of mine.”

“When did you leave the island? I know it was a long time ago, based off what Hippolyta said, but when exactly was it?” Felicity asked.

“1872.” She said. “Wandered around Europe for a few decades before both world wars broke out. They didn’t let me fight on the front lines in either one but I still signed up. When World War II ended, I went to the United States.”

“141 years. You were ‘seeing the world’ for nearly a century and a half. No wonder they didn’t expect you to be gone for so long.”

“Yeah, I’m old. Laugh it up.” Donna joked.

“Hey, you might be several thousand years old, but you look good. Trust me.”

The next month or so went pretty much the same. Felicity trained, she learned more about her mother’s past and got closer to her aunts and cousin. Within a month, she’d gotten very good at archery, almost as good as Oliver and lasted much longer during training than when she started. All in all, everyone was impressed with her progress. About a month after she arrived, Diana approached Felicity after training and told her to follow her.

“Where are we going?” she asked as Diana led her to a part of the island she hadn’t seen yet.

“The baths.”

“I can bathe back at the palace. Also, do I really smell that bad?” she asked self-conciously.

“You smell fine. The purpose of the baths is not solely to bathe. It’s a social thing, as you might say.” She explained as they walked. “It’s something we all do.”

“Okay….” She said, unsure and a little nervous.

They arrived at a large, open marble building and went inside. They undressed and got into the pools of warm water. About five minutes later, Donna, Antiope and Hippolyta arrived. Felicity became suddenly very interested in the ceiling as they undressed.

“What are you looking at?” Diana asked.

“She’s trying not to see me naked.” Donna answered for her. “We have the same parts, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Part of the reason Donna acted the way she did and dressed the way she did in Las Vegas was because of how the Amazons acted about nudity. Everyone was a woman, they all had the same parts, so they didn’t really see it as something bad or even noteworthy. Donna dressed the way she did and was very upfront and honest about sex because she never felt like she had anything to hide or be ashamed about.

“I know that, it’s just- it’s a process, ok? Also, I don’t want the image of my mother naked burned into my brain.” Felicity defended.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity trains and gets some surprising news.

**Themiscyra**

Felicity’s training continued over the following weeks. Antiope was happy to see that Felicity shared her cousin’s ability to learn quickly and think outside of the box when faced with an unfamiliar situation. She was still years away from being as skilled as the other Amazons, but as Felicity had mentioned the second day, they had entire decades of experience on her.

Today’s training, however, was very different that her other training sessions. The queen and several other Amazons Felicity hadn’t interacted much with were at the field. She got very nervous when she saw them. Hippolyta had been nothing but welcoming so far, and she was on good terms with everyone else, but Felicity was worried about not being good enough or being seen as a failure. As she prepared for her first bout, she tried to block out their presence.

“Are you ready?” Diana asked her.

“Yeah, totally. I mean, I feel like I’m being put on display and I’m terrified of embarrassing myself, but yeah. Let’s go.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. Mother simply wanted to see how your training is going. This isn’t a test, you can’t fail.”

“But I can make a fool of myself.”

“You can, but you won’t. Have some faith in yourself. You’ve worked hard, you can do this.”

“Yeah, I can do this. I can so totally do this. I’m gonna do it.” she said psyching herself up.

Antiope gave the order to start sparring.

* * *

 

**Starling City**

Things in Starling had gotten complicated, and worse, since the new year started.  A bomber calling himself Shrapnel had attacked the city. Oliver was able to stop him, with the help of ARGUS,  but not before a lot of people got hurt. After that happened, one of Felicity’s alerts went off. It seemed another Iron Heights prisoner had escaped during the Undertaking and was causing trouble again. Now, Laurel was poisoned and Sara’s ex-girlfriend was threatening her whole family. Not to mention, someone had found the formula for Mirakuru and was injecting people with it.

Digg and Oliver were exhausted. It seemed like the hits were never going to stop coming. “You know, I really miss Felicity right now. Team doesn’t seem completely without her.”

“Me too.” Oliver said. “But her family needs her.”

“I’m not saying we ask her to come back, but there’s no harm in calling her to say ‘hi’ is there?” Neither man had tried to call Felicity since December. She hadn’t been able to talk long at first, so they called less often. Then, everything with the Mirakuru started happening and they hadn’t had time.

“No, there isn’t. Tomorrow, though, it’s two AM in Las Vegas, so she’d probably asleep.”

* * *

 

**Themiscyra**

When Felicity and Diana’s spar was over, no one said anything about it. Felicity wasn’t sure what that meant, if anything. Usually, Antiope or one of the other Amazons gave her some pointers or commented about her improvement in a certain area. This time, though, nothing. They finished and the assembled Amazons followed Felicity as she went to the archery range to practice.

Now, the blonde definitely knew something was going on. Antiope or Diana were the only ones who ever went with Felicity for her archery lessons. Having an entourage told her there was something no one was telling her. She wanted to ask Diana, but the other woman had stayed behind at the field to spar with another warrior.

Trying to block out everyone else’s presence, Felicity focused on the targets and went about her usual routine. The routine wasn’t complicated by any means. Felicity shot at different targets, all stationary, laid out around that part of the field. When she ran out of arrows and went to retrieve them, Hippolyta spoke for the first time and stopped her.

“I suppose you wish to know what is going on.”

“Um, yeah. You didn’t come watch me fight because you were bored and didn’t have anything else to do.”

“We thought it was time to see how your training was going. I also wanted to see how your control of your abilities was progressing.”

“Makes sense. How’d I do?”

“Exceptionally. I believe, if you so desire, you could return to your life in the outside world with no trouble.” The Queen said. Felicity looked at a loss for words. “I am not saying you must leave or decide now. You came here to gain control of your abilities, and you have.”

“Can I- if I leave, am I allowed to come back?” the blonde liked the island a lot. She also liked living in Starling. She didn’t know which one she’d choose if forced to.

“Of course you may return. You are an Amazon, after all.” The crowd dispersed and everyone went about their day.

Later that night, Felicity was thinking about what to do. She knew she couldn’t just run away from her life in Starling. She also felt like she was meant to stay on Themiscyra a little longer. On a whim, Felicity turned on her tablet to see what was happening back in Washington. Themiscrya didn’t have traditional electricity or Wifi, but Felicity managed to scramble something together so she could keep her tablet and phone charged, just in case, and keep an eye on things back home. Being a computer genius had its perks.

Her tablet began going crazy with alerts. There had been a bomber in Starling. An Iron Heights escapee tried to sell a Markov device to some weapons dealers. Sara was back in the city and Felicity doubted the reason was good. Felicity immediately got onto her feet and ran from the room. She needed to get to Starling.

“Hey, where are you-?” Diana asked as she rushed past her.

“I need to get back to Starling. Something- there’s a lot going on- they’re in danger and I- my team needs my help.” She said.

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, you- it could be nothing. I might be overreacting.” She said.

“Nevertheless, I’m going with you.” Diana said. “I will tell Mother and Antiope. You should tell Donna. Meet me back here in half an hour with your things.”

After a long conversation with her mom, Felicity met back up with Diana. She gathered her tech, her armor from training and a few weapons to bring with her. She figured it was better safe than sorry. Instead of heading towards the beach, Diana led Felicity to a different part of the island where there was a hangar bay.

“Can’t believe no one told me about the invisible plane.” Felicity remarked as she got into said aircraft. “You’ve been holding out on me.”

“We didn’t want to overwhelm you.” her cousin replied as she prepared for take-off.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Diana return to Starling, and their timing couldn't be better

“Where exactly are you gonna land this thing?” Felicity asked as they got closer to Starling. “I know no one can see it, but it still takes up space.”

“There are plenty of roofs I can land on without anyone noticing.” She remarked. “A large number of companies moved out of the city after the earthquake and didn’t bother to sell the properties.”

“Oh, ok.”

“I feel like this isn’t about where we’ll land. Are you having doubts?”

“About helping my friends? No. I just- theyre gonna want to know where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. I’m not sure what to say.”

“Tell them the truth.”

“They won’t believe me.”

“They will once you show them your abilities.” Diana said. “You can’t hide who you really are forever.”

Soon enough, Diana landed the plane and she and Felicity disembarked. It was just after dark when they arrived, so Felicity headed towards Verdant, knowing that’s the most likely place Oliver and Digg would be. She told her cousin she was just looking around, so Diana went to her apartment as Felicity look. Suddenly, Felicity heard the familiar sound of Oliver’s motorcycle echoing through the air. She decided to follow it.

Luckily, Felicity had been too worried about getting to Starling to change out of her training outfit. The outfit consisted of a tan, leather corset top underneath a breastplate which covered her chest and abdomen and a skirt to match. The leather was woven together to create a overlapping pattern to protect what the breastplate didn’t cover. She wore gauntlets that covered her arms from wrist to elbow. On her feet were Grecian sandals that ended just below her knees. Her helmet, which looked like it came right out of _300_ was dangling from one hand.

She found herself standing on the edge of a bridge, as she tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Suddenly, a van with no windows drove underneath her, followed by Oliver and Sara on his Ducati.

Without thinking, Felicity jumped and landed in front of the van. Instinctively, she out her arms out to stop the speeding vehicle. It stopped, sending the woman in the back of the vehicle flying at the sudden stop. The driver hit the accelerator, trying to run over her and continue on his way, but the force of Felicity holding the van back was too strong. Getting angry, Felicity ran around the car and punched the driver hard enough to knock him out. He was dressed like a member of the League of Assassins. The woman in the back, Nyssa, began firing arrows out of the back window at Sara and Oliver. Felicity ran over to help them.

While the woman was focused on Sara, she didn’t try to stop Felicity from sneaking up behind her. when the blonde got too close, however, the woman turned and began firing at her. She caught the first arrow and deflected the others she sent her way.

Suddenly, half a dozen others dressed like Nyssa appeared out of nowhere. Felicity, Sara and Oliver all took up fighting stances. Sara and Oliver were mainly focused on Nyssa while Felicity faced most of the faceless assassins. At one point during the fight, she thought she heard Sara and Oliver talking.

“Is she with you?” Oliver asked.

“No. I thought she was with you.”

Underneath her helmet, Felicity smirked. An assassin got a lucky hit in and she returned her focus to the task at hand. At some point, the driver came to and tried to take off. Unfortunately, the van’s engine was damaged by Felicity holding it back and wouldn’t shift into gear. He yelled something to his compatriots. One assassin peeled away from the group and tried to take Dr. Lance from the backseat. Sara attacked and forced him to retreat.

Eventually, they seemed to realize this wasn’t a fight they were going to win, so Nyssa ordered everyone to fall back. She shot Sara one last angry look and said, “this is not over by any means.”

With the League retreating for the moment, Oliver and Sara’s attention was now on Felicity. He knocked an arrow and aimed it at her.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

The blonde realized she still had her battle helmet on and they couldn’t see her face. She struggled to pull it off. “Ah, sorry. That was harder to get off than I thought.”

“Felicity?” Sara asked.

“Yup. Um, Oliver? I think you can lower the bow now.” She said when he was still aiming it at her. “What was that about?”

“More importantly, what are you doing here and how did you learn to do….all that?” Sara asked, referring to what had just happened.

“I learned when I was away. I came back because I saw a bunch of notification about stuff happening in Starling and it looked like the team might need me.” she said. “Oliver, lower the bow or I’ll do it for you.”

That seemed to snap him out of it and he out the arrow back in his quiver. “Felicity, it’s…good to see you.”

“You cannot seem to stay out of trouble, can you?” A voice called from behind them. They turned to see Diana, in her Wonder Woman outfit, standing there. Diana’s outfit resembled Felicity’s except her top was strapless, she didn’t wear a helmet and she wore a headpiece Antiope had given to her years ago.

“In my defense, I was just looking for Oliver. I didn’t expect to stop a kidnapping.” Felicity told her cousin. “Oliver, you already know my cousin Diana. Diana, this is my friend Sara.”

“Wait, she’s your cousin?”

“There’s a lot a need to tell you. Why don’t you get Dr. Lance somewhere safe and I’ll meet you at the foundry.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has some explaining to do and Sara still has a problem to solve

Sara snuck back into the hospital with Dinah and left her in Laurel’s room. She was hoping Dinah wouldn’t remember being attacked and she’d just think she’d dozed off. On her way out, she ran into Quentin and told him to keep an eye on her and Laurel.

Felicity had been waiting for Sara to arrive at the foundry before she started explaining. As soon as the Canary came down the stairs, she started to speak.

“Ok, I guess first I should start with Diana. She’s my cousin. Our moms are sisters. I found that out right before I left for my ‘family emergency’.” She started.

“What was your family emergency, because I feel like it isn’t what you told HR or made me believe.” Oliver asked. He was angry at her for lying to him.

“Yeah, it wasn’t. I just- I didn’t know how to tell you.” she said. “I’m kinda- not entirely human.”

“Um. What?” Digg said. “You’re saying you’re an alien.”

“No, nope. Not an alien. An Amazon.”

“An Amazon, like from the Greek myths? Those Amazons?”

“Yup. I mean, a lot of the myths are wrong but- my mom’s an Amazon, so I’m half Amazonian.”

“That’s- well, I don’t know what exactly that is, but its something. It doesn’t explain why you left though.”

“When the Count took me, and we fought-“

“That wasn’t your fault.” Oliver said.

“No, I- I pushed him away from me. And because I have Amazonian strength, I pushed too hard and he fell out of that window to his death. I needed- I didn’t wanna hurt anyone again.” she said. “So, I left.”

“Where did you go?” Digg asked.

“The Amazons live on an island, hidden from the world. My mom, Diana and I went there so that I could train and learn how to control my abilities.”

“And that’s where you’ve been this whole time. Training with your mother and cousin.”

“Not just them. There aren’t just five Amazons, it’s a whole society. They’re all very nice women. And huge badasses.” Felicity said. “I wanted to get my strength under control but then I saw the news reports and-“

“And you thought you needed to come back.”

“So, you’re telling me there’s an actual island out there inhabited only by attractive, warrior women?” Sara asked. She felt like they’d glossed over that part when asking Felicity for answers.

“KInda wish we got stranded there.” Oliver remarked.

“No, you don’t. They would’ve eaten you alive back when you were ‘Ollie Queen’. I don’t even know what they’d do if you washed up.” Felicity said.

“It’s only happened twice before. One man was permitted to leave after a great deal of debate. The other man died of his wounds shortly after.” Diana said.

“Other than being Felicity’s cousin, I feel like there’s something else familiar about you.” Digg spoke up.

“We crossed paths before Felicity left. You arrived to stop a robbery only to discover someone else had already thwarted it.”

“That was you?”

“Yes, it was.” Diana said. “We’ve travelled rather far today. Could we continue this conversation tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I am kinda tired.” Felicity agreed.

“Wait, just one last question. What exactly are you wearing?”

“My training outfit. I didn’t know what I was walking into and didn’t wanna risk having to fight in my usual clothes.” She shrugged.

“It’s a good look for you.” Sara told her. “And thanks. For helping my mom.”

“What’re friends for. Who was that anyway?”

“Nyssa al Ghul. She’s- it’s a long story.”

Neither blonde commented on the look on Diana’s face when she heard ‘al Ghul’. Felicity didn’t want to ask in front of everyone. Sara didn’t because Diana hadn’t given her a reason to suspect anything. Felicity and Diana headed back to the former’s apartment, Sara went back to keep watch over the hospital and the others went home. 

Early in the morning the next day, Nyssa approached Sara as she surveyed the hospital. As soon as she sensed her arrival, Sara turned and was prepared for a fight.

“Attempting to take your mother wasn’t personal.”

“She’s my mother. it doesn’t get much more personal. Especially after you poisoned my sister.” She rebutted.

“I wouldn’t have had to do either if you hadn’t betrayed your oath.”

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m tired of killing. If that means you’ve gotta kill me, then so be it.”

“I could never do that.” Nyssa said. Despite everything Sara had done in leaving the League, she couldn’t stand the thought of killing Sara.

“You can, you just don’t want to.” she said. “I’m not going back. I won’t.”

“This will not end well for you.” Nyssa warned before disappearing.

“Yes, it will.” Sara said after she left. She looked down at the vial of pit viper venom in her hand.

That night, Nyssa tried to abduct Quentin. Unfortunately, Sara saw the move coming and was shadowing her father when Nyssa attacked. Before their fight could get too intense, Sara yelled, getting Nyssa’s attention. “This needs to stop.”

“I agree. Return with me and-“

“No, Nyssa. This- I can’t do this.” she started to sway on her feet and fell.

“What have you done?” Nyssa yelled at Sara. “You took the poison. Why?”

“-the only way.”

Nyssa got up from her spot near Sara and approached Quentin. If Sara wanted to kill herself, she’d make sure the rest of her family joined her in death. She drew her sword and began to advance, ready to attack. Someone jumped in front of Lance and blocked her though.

“Move.” She shouted at the woman.

“No. I know you’re angry, but you can’t kill him because of a choice Sara made.”

“Yes, I can.” Nyssa moved to attack again. Her adversary was stronger than she appeared but not as experienced. They were more evenly matched than Nyssa would’ve liked. As they fought, Oliver had found them and rushed over to Sara. “Who are you?”

“My name is Felicity of Themsicyra. I’m a friend of Sara’s.” she answered. The brunette continued fighting, wondering where the assassins she brought with her were. They were supposed to be her back-up but hadn’t stepped in when Sara, and later Felicity arrived. “Your friends or back-up or whatever you wanna call them are fine. Just a little tied up right now.”

“We won’t stop. Even if you defeat me today, the League will not stop coming after Taer al Safer.” Nyssa said.

“Nyssa, stop!” Sara shouted. “No more killing. Please.”

Something about the look in Sara’s eyes convinced Nyssa. She released Sara and left the building before anyone could see her tears. She found the other assassins knocked out but otherwise unharmed leaning against the building.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Felicity back in Starling, the team has to adjust to a few things. Felicity makes someone an offer.

After Nyssa and her cohorts left, Sara and Felicity decided to escort Quentin home. The officer didn’t want to admit it, but the last few days events’ shook him up. Felicity left when they reached his building, but Sara went up with him, saying they needed to talk. Lance unlocked his door, only to find both Dinah and Laurel already there. Dinah nearly passed out when she saw Sara and began sobbing. Meanwhile, Laurel watched this happen with disdain before she started yelling at Sara for everything that had happened.

Felicity walked into the foundry where Oliver, John and Diana were. “Lance get home okay?”

“Yeah, Sara wanted to talk a little more with him. I think they both kinda rushed past the “Dad, I’m a bisexual” thing because her ex showed up and tried to kill her family.” She answered. “And she missed him.”

“Good. What happens now?”

“What do you-?”

“Are you back or did you just come back because you saw we needed you?”

“I don’t- I’m not sure. There’s- its complicated.”

“Are you coming home or not, it doesn’t sound that complex to me.”

“It sounds simple, but its not.” she answered. Both Oliver anad Digg looked ready to argue, but she cut them off. “It’s been a long, and somewhat stressful night. I’m going back to my house, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Diana and Felicity were both quiet on the way to Felicity’s. They didn’t know what to say. Diana wanted her cousin to come back to Themsicyra with her, but at the same time understood why Felicity might decide to stay in Starling. Felicity was being completely honest when she told Oliver and Digg she didn’t know what she wanted and kept debating what to do the entire ride.

“I’ll support your choice no matter what you decide.” Diana said after they walked into the house. “If you stay here or if you return to the island. I’m behind you either way.”

“You are?”

“Of course. You are my family.”

 

The next night, Diana and Felicity headed towards the foundry. When they arrived, the others were already there. Sara wasn’t looking very happy though. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I- no. it’s not. Laurel- I’m back from the dead, but she’s angry about that.” she admitted. “Yes, Nyssa poisoning her happened because of me, as did my mom getting abducted. But, I thought after six years, she’d be a little-“

“Happier to see you.” she finished. “I’m sorry. She’s- Laurel’s dealing with a lot of stuff. Doesn’t make it okay that she’s blaming everything on you.”

“I mean, its not like- I was a dumb 18 year old when I went onto the yacht with Ollie. I’m not that person anymore. At what point am I done trying to make up for that?”

“I don’t know. The girl who got on that boat isn’t the same woman that came back after the Undertaking.” She said. “Let’s go kick some criminal butt, that might make you feel better.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She smiled slightly. “Has anyone told you what’s going on? With Slade and everything?”

“No, who is that?” Felicity and Diana both asked. sara filled them in on Slade, his history with Oliver and Mirakuru. As Diana and Felicity walked over towards the others, Oliver started to speak.

"I used one of Felicity's programs to track any unusual activity caused by Slade and his men. Over the last few days, they've been gathering in an old factory near the eastern edge of the city. There's also been an uptick in activity in the Glades. John and I'll take the east, Sara and Diana the glades."

"What about me?"

"You're staying here. Running the comms."

"No ‘m not. I can help."

"You don't-"

"What? Have training? Yes, I do."

"It’s not safe."

"Ollie, she can hold her own and is probably bulletproof."

"Then who’s gonna run the comms?" He asked.

"I’ll do it. Could use a break after the last few days." Digg said. He didn't care either way but could tell this was important to Felicity.  
Oliver and Sara took one side of the city while Felicity and Diana took the other. Things were going well for over an hour. The two Amazons hadn’t run into any serious trouble and the city was remarkably quiet. Then, John came over the comms. 

"Arrow and Canary look like they could use an assist."

"We'll be right there."

"No, we've got it covered. Don't come here." Oliver shouted.

"Yeah, no. Not happening."

They rushed to where Sara and Oliver were to find them facing a group of Mirakuru soldiers. Four against seven worked out a lot better than two against seven, especially when two of them were Amazons. They subdued the group and returned to the foundry.

“Oh, so you’re ignoring me now.” Felicity said to Oliver who hadn’t spoked since she and her cousin had helped him. “Real mature.”

“I’m not- it wasn’t safe, you could’ve gotten hurt.”

“You could’ve too. I don’t know if you’re mad I’m in the field. mad you needed help or mad you needed my help. Which is it?”

“Neither. I- Just because you can go into the field doesn’t mean you should.”

“I’d really like to see you stop me.” she shot back.

“As well as you performed today, I still think you could use some more training.” Diana said, stopping them from continuing their argument. “Even though we could defeat them this time, if they had had more numbers-”

“I know.  Back to Themiscyra it its.”

“You’re leaving again?” Sara asked.

“Not forever, just for now.” She answered. “You can always come with us.”

“I-“

“You said it yourself. Laurel needs space, your parents want you to be happy and you don’t really know what to do with yourself now that you aren’t on the run. Come with us. Train with the Amazons. Let me take you to an island that doesn’t suck.” Felicity said. “If you don’t like it, I’ll bring you right back.”

“You had me at ‘island of legendary female warriors’.” The Canary said smiling before turning to Oliver. “Keep me up to date on everything. I’m a phone call away if Slade becomes too much.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity, Diana and Sara set off for Themiscyra, Nyssa has questions and Donna sees a familiar face.

Sara followed Felicity and Diana to where they’d stashed the plane. “Wait a second, Themiscyra was hidden from the world back in like Ancient Greece right?”

“It was.”

“Then, how do you guys have a plane? You’ve been hidden from the world for thousands of years but kept up to date on flight technology?”

“It’s more than that.” Felicity said. “The plane’s also invisible, which I can’t figure out how they pulled off.”

“The plane wasn’t built or designed on the island.” Diana answered. “There was a pilot, his name was Steve Trevor. He was one of the men I mentioned yesterday. Years ago, his plane crashed on Themiscyra. When the plane crossed the barrier separating the island from man’s world, Zeus’ spell began to affect it, rendering it invisible.”

“Oh. You know, that kinda makes a lot of sense.” Sara said.

“Really?”

“I’ve seen a lot in the last six years, that’s all I’m saying.”

They found the plane and boarded it. Soon enough, the trio was airborne. The flight back was much more relaxing than the flight to Starling City. Or maybe that was just because Felicity wasn’t completely in the dark about what was going on.

* * *

 

**Nanda Parbat**

Nyssa followed another assassin as he led her to where within the fortress Ra’s was waiting. She knew he would want to know what happened in Starling and why Nyssa didn’t return with Sara. She also suspected her father knew something about Sara’s mysterious friend.

“A first, my child, you have returned empty-handed.” Her father said when she entered the room. “Or did Taer Al-Safer force you to kill her?”

“She did not. I released her.”

“You released her. For what purpose?”

“Forcing her to return would only result in her escaping again. And her methods and reasons for fleeing didn’t warrant death.” She answered.

“I see. Did anything of interest occur during your mission?”

“Before I released her, I encountered friends of Sara’s. They had rather peculiar armor.”

“Describe it.”

“A leather corset top with a breastplate over it and a skirt to match. It reminded me of classical Greek art.” She answered.

“Amazons.” He said.

“You’ve met them before?”

“One, many years ago. it was….a memorable experience.” Ra’s answered. “Just as well that you released her. Amazons do not give up easily, especially when it concerns those they call friends.”

* * *

 

**Themiscyra**

As soon as the plane crossed over the barrier, Sara let out a gasp. The island was breathtakingly beautiful and was completely different from Lian Yu.

“Why couldn’t I have washed up here? This place would’ve been way better.”

“Wait til you see it up close.” Felicity said.

Diana landed the plane in the hangar bay and as soon as they disembarked, they saw Hippolyta, Antiope and Donna there waiting.

“Oh my god!” Donna shouted when she saw them. “I can’t believe- how is- you’re here!” Her sisters both had matching looks of disbelief as well. “I mean, it’s been how long?!”

“Mom, what are you talking about?”

“Her.” She pointed to Sara. “She’s- you have no idea who I am, do you?” Sara shook her head. “Sorry, its just- you remind me of someone. It’s uncanny.”

“Ok, well, everyone, this is my friend Sara Lance. She, uh, she needed some time away from home to figure stuff out.”

“I also couldn’t resist the chance to train with the Amazons.” Sara said, “that’s is, if you’ll let me stay.” Diana and Felicity said she could come to the island with them, but that didn’t mean the Amazons would be okay with her staying.

“You are welcome to stay.” Hippolyta told her.

She knew Diana wouldn’t bring anyone to the island she didn’t trust and suspected Felicity wouldn’t either. It also seemed like the woman in front of her was dealing with some inner demons and some time on the island could help.

With the matter settled, the group left the hangar and headed towards the palace. As they walked, a few Amazons stopped what they were doing when they saw Sara, surprised to see a visitor to the island, but didn’t say anything. When they got to the palace, Diana showed Sara to a room she could use while Felicity trailed after her mother.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“What happened in the hangar, with Sara. Why did you freak out like that?”

“Do you remember when I told you about the war I fought before leaving the island? The group of warriors that didn’t seem to belong? She was one of them.”

“Or she looks an awful lot like one of them.”

“No, its her. I know it is. They’re identical and have the exact same name.”

“How could that- its not possible. For you to meet her centuries ago, she’d need a time machine or something.” Felicity argued.

“As far as you know, but hypothetically, if one were invented and she had access to it, it could happen.”

“So, you think she’s the same Sara but the war you fought is in your past but her future? I guess that makes some sense.” She admitted. “Kinda sad for her though. She’s been through enough as is. I’m pretty sure she’s sick of fighting already.”

“That’s why you brought her here, isn’t it? To give her a break.”

“Yeah, she- she was on the boat with Oliver when it sank. I don’t know a lot about what happened between then and now, but she had to do things to survive. Things she’s not proud of. I thought, after everything, she deserved some peace, even if its only temporary.”

“So you brought her here, where we don’t have any wars to fight.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Donna met Sara

**Greece, 742 BC**

“Why do you seem so upset, sister? Today was a victorious day.” Antiope said as she walked over to where Donna was.

Two months ago, the Amazons became aware of the war that had erupted between Sparta and Messenia. The anger each city-state had towards the other had been brewing for a while and it was only a matter of time before the hatred turned into a war. The Amazons had sided with Sparta, as they’d been allies in the past and, unlike the Messenians, didn’t have a history of turning their allies as soon as a conflict ended.

“I am upset. We do not know what this war is about. Do you even know why it began? What the catalyst was?”

“I do not.”

“Cattle theft. This whole war started because a Messenian’s cattle was stolen and sold, the investigation led to his son’s death and he began killing every Spartan he found. We are at war over livestock.”

“The theft was the catalyst, I doubt that is why the war is actually taking place. No civilization goes to war over something like that.” Antiope said. “And even if that is the only reason, we have already become involved.”

“This war is pointless and I do not think Hippolyta should have gotten involved.” Donna said as she walked off.

She was wandering around the garrison when she heard a voice with a strange accent call out.

“Is this Ampheia?”

She turned to face the group. In front of her were the eight strangest looking individuals she’d ever seen. Six men and two women. Their armor varied from person to person, and nothing they wore resembled any battle attire she’d ever seen.  They had strange garments covering their legs, vastly different from the civilian chiton or military hoplite, and none wore any kind of breastplate or exterior armor.

“Felicity?” One of the women said upon seeing her face. She had blonde hair a few shades darker than Donna’s.

“Who is Felicity?” Donna wondered out loud.

“Is this Ampheia?” the man asked again.

“Yes, it is. You are not with the Spartan military, or my people’s. Who are you?”

“This chick’s real smart for a society that believed the Earth was flat.” One of the men in the back leaned over and said to one of his companions. His companion laughed.

Something was off about this group. She didn’t understand half of what the man had said, but knew it wasn’t very polite. Tired and annoyed, Donna drew her sword and pointed it at the man who had just spoken.

“I would be quiet if I were you.” She said as the tip of the sword touched his neck.

“Told ya you shoulda let me bring my gun, Englishman.” The man said to their leader. The movement caused the sword to pierce his skin and blood began to trickle down his neck.

“What sort of a fool talks with a sword pressed against their throat?” Donna asked. “I will ask again. who are you?”

“We are-.”

“My name is Sara.” the blonde woman who’d spoken earlier said. “This is Rip, Jefferson, Martin, Ray, Leonard, Kendra and the ‘fool’ is Mick.” She pointed to each person in turn.

“You seem to be very far from home. Why are you here?”

“We are allies of Sparta and came to fight in the war.” The leader, Rip, said. Based on their reactions, not everyone on his team was aware of this.

“Very well then. You cannot fight a war dressed in such insufficient armor. I assume you six can find the armory for yourselves.” She said looking at the men. She then turned to Sara and Kendra. “You two should follow me.”

Confused, the two women followed Donna to where the Amazons had set up their camp. She got them squared away with armor and weapons before leaving to debate continuing the war with Hippolyta. She didn’t see the strange newcomers for the next two days. It was a lull in between battles, so not seeing them wasn’t odd. Still, something about the group set Donna on edge. They clearly weren’t from around here, and despite what their leader had said, she doubted they were Sparta’s allies.

It was on the third day, when a new battle began that she laid eyes on the group once more. Sara and Kendra gave her a nod of acknowledgement when they walked past. Two of the men with her, Ray and Martin, were still looking around the field in wonder, like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Two others, Leonard and Mick, looked to be in the middle of an argument.

“-come here to fight in a war.”

“Relax, we fight in the war, and while everyone is busy celebrating the victory, all those historical artifacts will be ripe for the taking.” Leonard countered. “Zip it, the natives might overhear.”

Before Donna could question either man, the battle began. In the heat of fighting, she’d lost track of what most people were doing. She needed to focus on the fighting after all. Midway through the battle, however, she looked up to see something impossible. A man, engulfed in flames, flying above the army. Occasionally, he’d shoot fireballs from his hands at the Messenians.

Later, after the battle was over, the flaming man was on everyone’s minds and what everyone was talking about.

“-a sign from the gods.”

“-means they support us in this war.”

“-the gods are on our side.”

“What are they talking about?” Sara asked as she walked over to Donna.

“Prometheus and why he now walks among us.”

“Prometheus? The man who gave humans fire. What makes you think he walks among us?”

“The flying, flaming man who fought beside us today.” She answered. “Who else could that have been other than Prometheus?” Sara didn’t have an answer for that.

The war dragged on for another six months, but ‘Prometheus’ didn’t make an appearance again. During the time they spent together, Donna had become very close to Sara and Kendra. She even became friends or at the very least friendly with Ray, Jefferson and Martin. Rip kept his distance from everyone except his team and she clashed often with him, Leonard and Mick.

The day the war ended was the last time she saw any of the group. The battle ended, Rip claimed they needed to regroup and they never returned. After it was clear they were gone, Donna realized angrily that one of them, either Leonard or Mick, had stolen her sword. It was her favorite sword.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara trains with the Amazons and learns a little more about what Felicity's been up to.

After Felicity was finished talking to her mom, she went looking for Sara. she wasn’t sure how her friend felt about her mother’s outburst and wanted to make sure she was okay. She found Sara in her room, staring out the window.

“Why couldn’t I have washed up here?”

“I know, right? I mean, I didn’t- I didn’t survive what you did but- I kinda wish you had been marooned here instead. Maybe then, you and Oliver wouldn’t have had to go through so much bad stuff.”

“Yeah, maybe. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to check on you. I know that thing with my mom was more than a little awkward. And I’m saying that.”

“I just wasn’t expecting that warm of a welcome.” She chuckled. “Who did your mom think I was?”

“A warrior she fought alongside in ancient Greece. Apparently you two could be twins. But she couldn’t believe she’d run into the woman again after a few thousand years, hence some of the screaming in excitement. The rest is just my mom being my mom.”

“You know, I could kinda see the resemblance when she did that.” Sara teased. “I can’t judge. My mom would die from excitement if she met your family.”

“She would, why?” Felicity knew plenty about Sara, Laurel and Quentin but almost nothing about Dinah except that she lived in Central City and the Lances had gotten divorced after Sara’s ‘death’.

“She’s a professor of Greek and medieval history. Getting to talk to someone who witnessed history would be a dream come true for her.”

“I’m kinda surprised she and Diana haven’t met at some point. Your mom teaches classical history, my cousin works with classical art.” She remarked. “I should let you get some rest. Training starts real early tomorrow and Antiope doesn’t like tardiness.”

“Who’s Antiope?”

“The general of the Amazonian army, and my aunt. She was the woman in the hangar who didn’t say anything. The other woman is my other aunt Queen Hippolyta.” Felicity admitted. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

The next day a little after dawn, Felicity arrived at the training grounds to find Diana and Sara already there talking. Other Amazons looked at the newcomer curiously. Before Felicity came, they hadn’t seen a new face in years and now they had two newcomers in the span of a few months.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“Please tell me I got here before Antiope.” Felicity had been late for training once and the punishment Antiope gave her made her never want to be late ever again.

“She will be here soon but hasn’t arrived yet.” Diana assured her.

“Good, I might have superhuman stamina or whatever, but that doesn’t mean I like having to run all around the island for being late. Those hills are steep.”

“What are you all standing around for? We have training to do.” Antiope shouted as soon as she got to the field and saw almost no one was sparring. “Diana, with. Felicity, I want you to spar against your friend.”

Sara was excited, she was getting to train with the Amazons of legend. It was a dream come true. Felicity was apprehensive. The only non-Amazons she’d fought were the League members a few days earlier. She didn’t want to accidentally hurt Sara.

“Do you know how to use a sword?” She asked.

“Yeah. Everyone in the League learns to fight with one. I didn’t pick it as my signature weapon, but I know how to handle one.”

Felicity picked up a sword and hoped this would go well. Sara made the first move, aiming a blow at Felicity’s leg. The other blonde blocked it and the fight began. It was almost like a dance the way they moved. Back and forth, almost in unison with their parries and thrusts. Sara’s footwork was more confident and slightly more advanced, but Felicity was more than capable of keeping up with her. they were so engrossed with their bout that neither noticed other groups stopping to watch or Diana and Antiope walking over to them until the general loudly cleared her throat.

“That was impressive, both of you.” She remarked. “It is time to switch partners. Felicity, work with me. Sara, with Diana.”

“Wow, when you said you’d been training, you weren’t kidding. Good job.” Sara said before heading over to where Diana was.

Felicity and her aunt had developed a routine when they sparred. They’d fight for several minutes. Then, they’d stop and Antiope would point out some things she could improve on, and they’d start again. Today, after their first bout, Antiope wanted to know what happened in Starling. Felicity explained that Sara’s family was in danger and she and Diana had helped them. She told her about her fights with Nyssa and the League, although she didn’t mention them by name, and how they went. The general seemed satisfied with her answers and they went back to sparring. When Felicity was tired out, they stopped to observe Sara and Diana.

“Your friend has had training.”

“Yes, she uh- she spent five years away from home and had to learn how to fight to survive.”

She didn’t want to tell her about the island or the League. They weren’t her story to tell in the first place. Sara and Diana continued fighting for a little while longer until Diana disarmed her.

“Woah, you guys are intense. You really live up to your reputations as legendary warriors.” Sara said catching her breath. “I’m gonna need a minute before we start again.”

“I think we’re almost done for this morning actually.” Felicity said. “Or at least, this is the time of day I’m done with sparring and switch to- nevermind.”

This was usually the time of day when Felicity would work on her archery. She didn’t want Sara to know that yet though, because of Oliver. She actually really liked archery, she was just nervous about being compared to Oliver. She wasn’t quite ready to show off her skills.

“Switch to what?”

“Archery. I don’t know why Felicity wouldn’t want to tell you.” Diana answered. “She’s quite good.”

“Is it because of Oliver?”

“I’m good, but I’m not, like, Oliver good and I- I don’t want to be compared to him just yet. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone I was learning archery back in Starling. I mean, he can shoot arrows while doing backflips off of buildings.”

“Yes, because he’s gotta be dramatic. C’mon, let’s go shoot some arrows.” Sara said.

She relented and walked with Sara to the archery area. They decided to have a competition to see who could hit the most bullseyes. Felicity missed the first one out of nerves, but hit the rest of the targets dead-on or almost dead-on. Sara did a little worse than Felicity. They then decided to see who could hit the furthest target, which Felicity won.

“I don’t know why you were nervous. You’re way better than he was this early on. Now, you just need to work on your backflips.” She joked.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Felicity continue to train and news comes from Starling City. It isn't very good news and prompts decisions to be made.

After training was done that day, Sara came into Felicity’s room and flopped down on the bed. Felicity was doing her daily check on Starling and didn’t pay attention to her right away. According to the news, everything was fine but she could sense that something was off. Something was definitely about to happen. She sent messages to both Oliver and John, but didn’t get a response.

“Ok, I’m sore. How am I already sore?” Sara lamented.

“You haven’t trained like this before.”

“Oliver, John and I spar constantly and the League’s training wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. I wouldn’t say I’m new at this.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m say that while you’ve trained before, you haven’t trained with Amazons who have increased strength and stamina. Oliver and Digg are both strong, but last I checked, they can’t punch through concrete. Also, Antiope doesn’t go easy when it comes to training. Those things combined means you’re gonna be really sore for a little bit.”

“I forgot to ask, if this is tough even for me, how bad was it for you?”

“Luckily, I’ve got some Amazonian enhanced healing to go along with my strength and stamina. I was sore, sure, but mostly I felt embarrassed that I was so far behind. Pretty sure my mom was getting judgement for that.”

“Why would they judge her?”

“Because she could’ve come back to the island at any time and I could’ve been trained here from childhood. I’m glad she didn’t though.”

“Why?”

“Think about all the things that would’ve happened differently, if at all, if I was raised here. I never would’ve gone to MIT. I wouldn’t have met Oliver, or John or you. I wouldn’t have ever seen Doctor Who.” She said seriously. “I like the way things turned out, the Undertaking aside.”

“Me too, not including the whole League of Assassins saga.”

The next two weeks went pretty much the same. Sara and Felicity trained with the Amazons. Sara had also started to develop friendships with some of the younger Amazons. She was fascinated by their stories and learning about their way of life. She supposed she was a little more like her mother than she thought.

During this time, Felicity was able to learn a little more about Sara’s time with the League as well as aspects of Amazonian history she didn’t know. For months, she’d wondered why the Amazons retreated to Themiscyra and stayed away from man’s world. She’d heard Antiope and Hippolyta’s assertions that men’s hearts were corrupted and so on. She knew there had to be a catalyst, an inciting incident to justify hiding the island from the world and never returning. It turned out that, shortly after the Messenian War, the Amazon’s allies turned on them. The betrayal was too much for Hippolyta to ignore or accept, so they left the world of men behind.

Sixteen days after arriving on the island, Felicity was woken up in the middle of the night by her tablet registering an alert. She’d programmed it to go ballistic if John or Oliver sent a message with a code word in it. Now completely alert, Felicity checked the device.

_Thea is missing. I think Slade took her._

Felicity dropped the tablet onto the bed and sped out of the room to find Sara. As soon as the door slammed open, Sara was awake and preparing for an attack. The noise also woke Diana, Donna, Hippolyta and Antiope.

“We need to go. Now.” Felicity said.

“What happened? Is it-?”

“Thea’s missing. Oliver thinks it was Slade. We need to get back to Starling.”

The former assassin was out of the bed and collecting her stuff as soon as the words ‘Thea’s missing’ were spoken.

“What is going on?” Hippolyta asked.

“There’s a man in Starling City. He has….abilities he obtained from a serum.” Felicity hadn’t had time to mention Slade or Mirakuru to her aunt.

“It drove him insane.” Sara interjected. “He unfairly blames our friend Oliver for the death of someone he loved. He’s decided he’s going to destroy the city and Oliver for revenge. He’s been building an army of men like him for a few months.”

“He kidnapped Oliver’s sister. Sara and I, we need to go back home. Oliver’s gonna need help to save his sister and beat Slade.” Felicity said. “I knew something like this was going to happen. I could just feel it.”

“How dangerous is this man?” Antiope asked.

“As dangerous as a Spartan warrior. Plus he’s completely insane.” Felicity answered.

“You are hyperbolic, I imagine.”

Sara took a deep breath. “He’s spent the last five years plotting his revenge. He doesn’t just want Ollie dead, he wants everyone he loves dead, anyone he’s friends with dead. Everyone he’s ever met, dead. He’ll kill everyone in Starling City if that’s what it takes.”

“We will meet you at the western gate in five minutes.” Hippolyta said.

“You’re coming with us?”

“If this man is as dangerous as you claim, you should not be going alone. And we will not allow thousands of innocent people to die for one madman’s vendetta.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity, Sara and the others arrive in Starling to help. While Team Arrow is searching for Thea, the Amazons stumbled upon some trouble.

As soon as the invisible jet landed in Starling, Sara, Diana and Felicity took off to the foundry. They didn’t have any time to waste in finding Thea. Donna took Antiope and Hippolyta to Felicity’s house in the meantime. Their clothes mad them stand out a lot and they needed to blend in.

“Why do women in this world wear such confining garments?” Antiope asked as she tried on one of Donna’s dresses. “There is no way you can fight dressed like this.”

“This outfit isn’t meant for fighting. I’ll find you something less form-fitting. I’m sure Felicity’s got something. Anyway, your battle armor is a little conspicuous and you both need to blend in.”

After a lot of frustration on everyone’s parts, Antiope and Hippolyta wound up wearing yoga pants and loose shirts of Felicity’s that Donna found in her closet.

Meanwhile at the foundry, the trio strolled into the foundry to find Digg trying to talk Oliver down. Roy was nowhere to be seen. The archer was so angry, he looked almost feral.

“What do we know?” Felicity asked as soon as she took everything in.

“You’re- you’re here.”

“Of course I am, Thea’s missing. And I brought back-up.”

“Thea left Verdant after closing up two nights ago. She never made it home and Roy hasn’t seen or heard from her. I tried calling, Mom tried, I even asked Laurel to try and nothing. That’s why I messaged you. I tried pinging her phone but-”

“No dice.” Sara finished. “You, me, Diana and Digg will hit the streets. Felicity, are you fine staying here and seeing if you can track Thea some other way?”

“Yup. Keep your comms on, I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Wait, there’s something else. Before I thought it was Slade, now I know it was Slade. During the debate earlier tonight, someone hacked into the feed and played a video of Thea being held somewhere. I should’ve-”

“Let’s find her before anything happens to her.” Sara said. “You can regret not killing Slade after she’s safe.”

They spent all night patrolling and trying to find intel only to come up empty handed. Oliver wanted to keep looking, but needed to take care of a few things at Queen Consolidated. He returned to the foundry less than an hour later and looked ready to kill someone.

“What happened? You have angry face.”

“I played right into their hands. I gave Isabel temporary control of QC while Thea was missing and she talked the Board into making it permanent. She’s working with Slade, has been all along.”

“Why would he want- Applied Sciences.” Felicity said.

“I’m not sure I follow.” Diana interjected.

“Slade’s abilities comes from a serum. With the resources of QC’s Applied Sciences, he can mass produce it. He’s gonna build an army.”

“No, he’s not.”

 

While Diana, Sara and Felicity were looking for Thea, the older Amazons were exploring the city. It was nighttime, so most of the attractions were closed, but Donna still wanted to show them around the city. Antiope and Hippolyta didn’t understand how a city that seems so ordinary could be under attack or require vigilantes like the Arrow.

They were walking down a street of abandoned buildings by the edge of the Glades when they suddenly heard something.

“Let me go! Leave me alone!” It was a distinctly female voice. She sounded scared.

“Shut up!” A male voice yelled.

“We need to do something.” Donna said. She could tell her sisters agreed with her. “It’s coming from three buildings down.”

“We don’t have our armor, what do we do?”

“We make due. If we leave, she might not be here or be alive when we get back.”

“Unarmed it is then.” Antiope said as the trio snuck towards the building.

Two men with guns were guarding the door. Based on the sounds they could hear inside, there were at least three others inside. Donna took the left side, Antiope took the right and Hippolyta took the center. Between the three of them, they were able to subdue the two guard without alerting the others inside. They snuck into the building and saw two men standing in front of a large metal door. The men yelled in surprise and alerted their friends to the intruders. It wasn’t easy fighting against five men with machine guns unarmed, but the three Amazons were able to defeat them, with only minor injuries. They moved through the door where they saw a young, brunette woman tied to a chair.

“Are you all right?” Donna asked as she untied the restraints. “Did they hurt you?” The girl was too shocked to say anything and just shook her head. “Good, can you tell me your name?”

“Thea. My name’s Thea Queen.” She said shakily.

“Ok, Thea. My name’s Donna. This is Annie and Martha.” She pointed to her sisters and told Thea the Anglicanized versions of their names. “Let’s get you to a police station. Everyone’s looking for you.” she said as she led Thea towards the door. Fifteen minutes after the group of four had left the warehouse, Slade arrived to find his men all knocked out, and his hostage gone.

 

Roy and Oliver were in the middle of a heated argument about Oliver’s way of doing things when Felicity’s phone rang. She saw it was from her mother and answered.

“You did? She is? Ok, I’ll tell him.” she hung up the phone. “Thea’s fine.”

“How do you know that?”

“My mom found her and took her to the SCPD.”

“When you say ‘found her’-?”

“My mom and aunts were out for a walk when they heard something that concerned them. They went to check it out and found Thea in this warehouse surrounded by men with guns. They obviously couldn’t leave her there and rescued her. Slade wasn’t there.”

“I know this wasn’t a total victory, but I’m really glad they insisted on coming.” Sara said.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team meets the Amazons.

As soon as Felicity told Oliver Thea had been found, he left to make sure she and his mother were okay. He got them settled back at the mansion and stayed for about an hour assuring them that everything was going to work out. He didn’t completely believe it, but the sentiment was appreciated.

He arrived back at the foundry to find everyone still there in addition to three older blonde women he didn’t know. No one else seemed alarmed, so he didn’t attack, but tried to sneak up behind them to gauge the conversation that was going on. He was about five steps away when all three women turned, almost in unison, to face him.

“Did you expect that to work?” One of them, who reminded him of Felicity, said.

“I forgot to tell you, one of the….enhanced abilities Amazons have are enhanced senses.” Felicity said. “We all knew you were here after your foot hit the top step.”

“We pretended we couldn’t. I wanted to see what you would do.” Antiope said.

“Oliver, meet my mom, Donna. My aunt Antiope, general of the Amazonian army. And my other aunt Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Diana’s mother.” Felicity said introducing everyone to Oliver. “Everyone, this is Oliver.”

“So you’re the famous Oliver.” Donna said. “Felicity told me all about you.”

“And more importantly, the Arrow.” Antiope said. “We’ll see if you deserve that name.”

“We came here for a reason and it wasn’t to intimidate Oliver.” Diana said.

“We’re multitasking.” Hippolyta said. “Sara and Felicity told us a bit about your foe, Slade Wilson. Tell us the rest.”

“He has enhanced strength, stamina, agility. The serum that granted him these gifts made him lose his mind. A mutual friend of ours was killed five years ago and he blames me for her death. Swore he’d destroy or corrupt everything I loved. We learned a few months ago that he was recreating the serum used on him to build an army.”

“And now its gonna be easier than ever.” Felicity remarked. “We need to do something about Applied Sciences.”

“That isn’t our biggest problem.” Diana interjected. “From what I know, this man has lost his mind but not his wits. Kidnapping Thea Queen was not his real plan.”

“Kidnapping her gave Isabel a way to take over QC.”

“If that were the case, why not release her as soon as the decision was made?”

“A distraction.” Antiope concluded. “Oliver would do whatever he was told to get his sisters back. With his focus elsewhere, Wilson could move unhindered.”

“What would his move be?”

An alarm began to sound from one of Felicity’s computers. “Getting an army. A prison transport to iron Heights was attacked on the road. The guards are all dead, the prisoners are all missing. Violent criminals sound like the perfect soldiers for him.” she said.

“We need to destroy Applied Sciences.” Sara concluded.

“Are we-?”

“Slade needs the department to mass produce Mirakuru. If the building and the equipment are destroyed, it makes his job, and his end goal, harder to reach.”

“But still, blowing up a building seems a bit drastic.”

“If you want to win a war, you have to destroy your enemy’s key resources. The serum is his main weapon, and thus a key resource.” Hippolyta said. “And it should be done before he can capitalize on the technology at his disposal.”

Felicity and Sara came up with a plan on how to destroy the Applied Sciences building so that Slade couldn’t salvage anything from it and no one was hurt. With some discussion, they fine-tuned the plan and agreed to enact it the following night. When the discussion was over, Oliver pulled Felicity aside.

“Why are your mom and aunt’s here?”

“When I told Sara Thea was missing, they overheard. When they saw how freaked out we both got, they insisted on coming. They said it was their duty to protect the innocent civilians from Slade’s vendetta.”

“I didn’t call you expecting you to fight Slade.” He knew he stood a better chance of beating Slade if the team was together, but he didn’t need or want Felicity to fight.

“Well, I’m going to. This is why I left, why I’ve spent months learning how to fight. I didn’t do it to stay down here when I could help. I can hold my own.”

He wanted to argue. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she could handle herself. He just wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to her. it was also hard for him to reconcile the Felicity he thought he knew with the woman in front of him. The Felicity who fault Nyssa to a draw was a complete 180 from the woman he thought he knew. Their conversation ended there and Oliver went home. Digg and Roy departed around the same time too. Diana and the other Amazons went back to Felicity’s house to rest.

“Why didn’t you go with him?” Felicity asked Sara.

“Who? Ollie? Why would I?”

“Aren’t you and him, you know, together?”

“No. We had sex once, yes, but we both realized we shouldn’t go back down that road.” She answered. “Besides, I’m not the one he really wants.”

Felicity finished up what she was working on and left the foundry with Sara. the following night, their attack on Applied Sciences went almost flawlessly. When Felicity was placing her explosives, a guard snuck up on her and told her to surrender. Oliver was about to intervene when she acted.

“I’m really sorry about this.” She said as she hit him in the face. Hard enough to knock him out, but not hard enough to kill him. She carried the unconscious guard out of the building and Oliver detonated the explosives once everyone was back in the van.

“Well, that was almost a rousing success.”

“We did what we came to do and nobody got hurt. I call that success.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tries to stop Slade from creating his army, the Amazons sees the effect of Mirakuru for the first time and reinforcements are called in.

Even though they destroyed Applied Sciences, they didn’t slow Slade’s plan down as much as they hoped. He simply attacked a Star Labs annex on the outside of town and stole a biotransfuser they were building and hoping to patent. To make matters worse, Roy had left town only for Slade and Isabel to find him. Felicity, Diana, John and Oliver tracked Slade to where he was injecting the prisoners with Mirakuru and discovered that Slade was using Roy’s blood, not his own, to do it. When Oliver tried to remove Roy, Slade fought to keep him there.

Oliver and Diana fought against Slade while Felicity started to disconnect him from the machine. Fighting Slade was much easier with two people, especially when one of them had enhanced strength too. She was in the process of shutting the biotransfuser down when Isabel intervened. She aimed her gun at Felicity, but it was knocked out of her hand.

“You’re a little out of your depth here.” she said, getting into a fighting stance. Felicity was wearing her gladiatorial helmet, so Isabel couldn’t see her face. She thought it was some apprentice of Oliver’s they didn’t know about yet.

“I really don’t think I am.” Felicity was 85% sure Isabel didn’t have any Mirakuru in her system. Fighting her wouldn’t be fair, and she hoped to avoid it, but if Isabel wanted a fight, she’d get one. A small part of Felicity thought it was just deserts and wouldn’t feel very badly if Isabel got a little banged up.

The brunette aimed a strike at Felicity’s abdomen. Her jaw dropped in complete shock when Felicity blocked the blow and kept her from going in for another hit. Behind her, she heard John yell that he’d gotten Roy out of the chair he was strapped to. Diana hit Slade as hard as she could in the face at the same time Oliver shot him in the side with two explosive arrows. Felicity shoved Isabel back and headed towards the others. She heard a loud bang, but didn’t turn around to see what it was. The sound was Isabel’s head hitting one of the tables at an odd angle.

They rushed Roy back to the foundry and agreed to keep him sedated for now. Sara waited for them to discuss the plan for Slade before she told them she was leaving town for a little while. She said there was a friend she needed to find. With four Amazons and one half-Amazon working alongside Oliver, she was sure they could handle things for a little while.

 

While Team Arrow was trying to save Roy, Donna, Antiope and Hippolyta were patrolling the city. Felicity and Diana needed to save Roy, which they supported, but with the focus on him, it left the city at large in peril. The older Amazons wished to see for themselves how much danger the city was in. it was a surprisingly quiet night, almost as if the city could sense something was about to happen.

Donna was ready to call it a night when she heard a commotion down the street from where they were.  There was a loud banging sound, like a heavy door being kicked in followed by screaming. The trio went to investigate and found a man had broken into a house, completely destroying the door in the process, and was looming over the scared woman inside.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?!” He shouted at her. She was crying and begging him to calm down. He pulled his arm back, as if to hit her, but Hippolyta grabbed his arm before he could.

“Leave. Now.” She let go of his arm, but stood between him and the woman.

“Who the fuck are you?” He demanded.

“Leave, or I will make you.”

“I’d like to see you try.” He said, lashing out to hit her.

She blocked the first swing, but wasn’t able to stop his second one, which struck her in the ribs. His hits weren’t quite as strong as an Amazon’s, but they were comparable. The queen reacted to the hit by punching the man across the face, knocking him down. He tried to get back up and attack her again, but Antiope and Donna intervened and handled him themselves. Hippolyta, meanwhile, walked over to the scared woman to make sure she was okay.

It turned out the man had been her ex-boyfriend who had joined the Church of Blood. Donna remembered Felicity telling her about the group being connected to Slade and suggested they take the unconscious man to the foundry to question him. They had no doubt that the man had Mirakuru in his system. Before they could take him anywhere, the police arrived. A concerned neighbor had called them when he broke the door in. Donna, Antiope and Hippolyta were forced to leave before they entered the house.

Making it back to the foundry, they found the others, excluding Sara, sitting around Roy’s unconscious body.

“We ran into one of Slade’s followers.” Hippolyta told them. “I understand now why Felicity and her friend were concerned about this Mirakuru.”

“Five Amazons may not be enough.” Antiope said. “I will return to Themiscyra and collect others.”

“You wanna bring more Amazons here to fight Slade Wilson?” Oliver asked.

“Yes. This strength, this power, is dangerous in the wrong hands. A war is coming, and you will need all the help you can get.”

“Sara left to get help from friends of hers.” Felicity told them.

“Well then, we will have even more allies in this fight.” The general said. “I will return in two days.”

 

Isabel awoke from her transformation into a Mirakuru soldier and sat up. The last thing she remembered was fighting a woman wearing an ancient Greek helmet and then everything went black. Recalling the fight, it occurred to her that the woman she’d fought was stronger than a normal human.

“I thought you were the only successful Mirakuru patient before now.”

“I was.”

“Then who were those two women we fought?”

“Some allies of Oliver Queen. It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does. The woman I fought, she was too strong not to be enhanced.”

“They may be enhanced, but that doesn’t mean they have the serum. Oliver burned all the others. And he’s too moral to experiment on his sidekick.” If the situations had somehow been reversed, Slade would’ve taken Roy’s blood to reverse-engineer the serum and level the playing field. Oliver saw himself as too much of a hero to do something like that.

“Well, if they don’t have Mirakuru, then what are they?”

“It doesn’t matter. We outnumber them.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade attacks, the siege begins and Oliver sees more of the new and improved Felicity.

The day after Antiope left Starling, things went downhill fast. Oliver, Moira and Thea were driving home from a campaign event when a car ran into their limo. When they woke up, Moira and Thea were tied up with Slade standing over them. He gave Oliver the same ultimatum that Ivo had on the island. Oliver had to choose who would live: Thea or Moira. When Oliver hesitated, Moira stood and told Slade to kill her instead. She refused to let either of her children die. For a moment, it looked like Slade was going to let them all go after she said that. He stepped away only to turn around and stab her in the chest.

Felicity and Digg found Oliver and Thea lying next to Moira’s body about an hour later. Thea was sobbing and Oliver was just staring straight ahead. Felicity and John herded the Queens into a car and called the SCPD. While they were driving them home, Felicity looked into the rearview mirror before saying something to Digg.

“I should’ve stopped this.”

“You couldn’t have-“

“Do you know why the Amazons were created? To protect the innocent.” Felicity said. “And I failed. As bad as the Undertaking was and as much as I disliked Moira, she didn’t deserve to die. She was innocent in all of this. And so was Thea.”

“You couldn’t have known this was going to happen.”

“No, but I knew Slade was dangerous and had a vendetta against Oliver. I knew he wanted revenge and that his family was in danger.” She said. “I couldn’t do the one thing I was created to do.”

“That doesn’t fall just on you. Let’s get them home.”

“Turn around. We shouldn’t take them back to the mansion.” She said. “Someone needs to keep an eye on both of them.”

“And take them where?”

Oliver and Thea barely registered the car pulling up outside a small house they didn’t recognize. They didn’t react when Felicity and Digg ushered them into the house or Diana and Donna came into the living room asking what was going on. Donna made both of them some hot chocolate and left Felicity to watch over them.

“I’m sorry. I feel like that’s not enough, but-”

“This is all my fault.”

“No, its not.” Felicity said taking a seat next to Oliver. “It’s Slade’s. He’s psychotic and blames you for something that isn’t your fault.”   

“I need to- I can’t be here.” He said standing up. “It’s not safe-“

“My whole family’s practically bulletproof. Right now, this house is the safest place in Starling.” She told him. “Try to get some sleep. It’s been a long night.”

The next day was a blur for everyone. Oliver and Thea went into the SCOPD to give their statements about what happened. Then, they had to talk with lawyers about Moira’s will and all of the legalities of both her death and the situation with Queen Consolidated. Moira Queen’s funeral was planned for the very next day.

The night before the funeral, Felicity walked in on Oliver packing his bag to leave.  He seemed convinced that the only way to prevent more death was to hand himself over to Slade and just let the man kill him. Felicity talked him out of missing the funeral or handing himself over. Nothing good would actually come out of either thing happening.

 

After Moira’s funeral, Oliver, John, Roy, Felicity and the Amazons reconvened at the foundry to discuss what to do next. Slade had an army. He had resources and now, he had control over city hall through Blood. They doubted Blood knew what he was involved with, but the sentiment was the same. The city was on edge and everyone could feel that something was about to happen.

Antiope returned to the city with a dozen Amazons. Hippolyta was bringing her warriors up to speed on the plan when Felicity managed to track down the location where Slade’s army was. Oliver didn’t want to do it, but it was clear by now that the only way to stop Slade was to kill his Mirakuru army. Destroying the building they were gathering in would take them all out in one strike, which wouldn’t be pretty but it would certainly be effective.

Felicity and Oliver were planting the explosives to take out Slade’s army when they suddenly found themselves surrounded. The blonde wasn’t sure they could fight their way out. Before she could come up with a plan, Oliver shot an explosive arrow into the ceiling, causing the roof to collapse and separating them from the Mirakuru soldiers. The only problem was that when the dust cleared, there was a bunch of debris between Oliver and Felicity as well.

“Felicity? You okay?” He shouted in concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said standing up. She glanced over and saw Oliver’s bow laying on the ground. She picked it up. “Get away from the rocks.”

“What?”

Thankfully, there was an explosive arrow right next to the weapon. “I’m gonna break through the debris, but you can’t be standing right next to it.” She nocked the arrow and took a deep breath. “On three, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Everything Antiope had taught her about archery ran through her mind. Keep her arm straight. Take a deep breath as she released. Aim for the middle of the target. “One, two, three.” She counted slowly before she released the arrow. The wall of rocks gave way, with a stunned Oliver standing on the other side. She handed him his bow as she said, “I’m really glad you had another explosive arrow.”

“You- you shot my bow?” Oliver was sure he could’ve talked Felicity through shooting it, but he hadn’t expected her to know how to use it on her own.

“Yeah, I kinda- on Themiscyra, my aunt taught me archery.” She admitted. “I’m not used to a compound bow, but I think I did alright.”

“Yeah, you did.” he said, still shocked.

“We should go. Army of superstrong nutjobs attacking the city and all.”

“Yeah.” He said, dazed, following after her.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Slade's army destroys the city, the race to find the Mirakuru cure begins.

Felicity and Oliver left the ruined building and made their way out into the street. Everywhere they looked there was chaos. They were trying to decide where to go, which area needed them most, when they heard Digg over the radio.

“Could use a little help, guys.” Felicity and Oliver both took off in the direction where Digg had been planting explosives. She got there first and saw Isabel, dressed similar to Slade, standing over John. She approached the other woman from behind.

“You wanna save me some time and energy, tell me where I can find Felicity Smoak. I’ve been aching to put a bullet in her smug little face ever since the day-“

“Right behind you.” Felicity said. “Ready for a rematch?” Since she was wearing her helmet and armor, Isabel couldn’t see her face, and only recognized the woman behind her as the warrior who nearly killed her.

“You!” the brunette yelled as she swung the sword in her hand at Felicity.

She moved out of the way easily and the fight began. Isabel’s technique needed a lot of work. She could hold her own just fine against an average opponent, but against someone with enhanced strength, like Felicity, or centuries of experience, like the Amazons, she didn’t do very well. She also tended to fall into the same trap that many new fighters fell into, she relied on her emotions. As Felicity kept dodging her blows and outmaneuvering her, she got angrier and angrier. As she got angrier, she got sloppy, leaving plenty of opening for Felicity to land blows of her own.

Oliver made his way over to John and helped him up, making sure he was okay. They watched as Felicity fought Isabel, matching her blow-for-blow. Eventually, Isabel let her guard down a little too much and Felicity landed a hit on her stomach which knocked her backwards. The trio turned and left while she was recovering.

“That was-“

“Amazon, remember?” She responded. The response was cut off when Felicity’s phone rang. “Hello?.....This is she….You do? Fantastic.” She ended the call. “That was Star Labs. They have a cure, its en route with a courier.”

“Oh thank god.” Digg remarked.

“I’m gonna go call Diana and my mom. Someone needs to keep an eye out on every road in and out of the city.” She said, taking a few steps away to do just that. While she was on the phone, John turned to Oliver.

“Ok, what happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“This look on your face, it’s your Felicity face.”

“My ‘Felicity’ face?”

“Yeah, the dumb face you make when you remember how awesome and wonderful Felicity is and how much you care about her.” He countered. “I’m glad you’re remembering and acknowledging that, but now’s not really the time.”

“I don’t have a face like that.”

“Yes, you do.” John looked over to her and saw that she was walking back towards town. “Looks like we’re moving.”

Felicity got a phone call from the driver. One of Slade’s men had attacked his van, causing him to crash. He was pinned underneath the car and unable to move. They needed to reach him before someone else could. They were driving to his location when one of Slade’s men attacked the van, causing it to flip over. felicity was unharmed and Digg and Oliver had some bruises and minor cuts.

Then, the driver called back. She stayed on the line and told him to honk his horn so they could find him. He claimed he could see them arriving, but they were nowhere near his location. Over the line, she heard someone, likely a MIrakuru soldier, attack him. She sped up her run when the driver said he saw her feet, reaching the totaled vehicle and seeing one of the older Amazons fighting against a Mirakuru soldier. The driver was already dead.

Using her strength, Felicity was able to break the handcuffs keeping the briefcase tethered to the dead driver. She picked up the case before turning to the Amazon. “Do you need a hand or-?”

“Go. I will be fine.” The woman answered as she successfully knocked her opponent onto his back and landed a kick to his face.

“Fair enough.” She said, turning to leave. She was running back to where she thought Oliver and John would be when she came across Sebastian Blood.

“I’ll take that.” he said, moving to take the case from her.

“No, you won’t.” she shouted. “Look around you. Do you think this city’s still gonna be here in the morning? This, it’s the only chance to stop Slade from destroying Starling.”

“He’s not going to destroy it, just cause enough damage to-“

“To what? Make the city ready to follow you? Decide they should join your little cult? Newsflash, you aren’t his partner, you’re his pawn. He was never going to call off the attack. Why would he? Destroying Starling is the only thing he wants.” She told him point blank. “Move aside, I don’t want to hurt you, but if I have to choose between hurting you or letting people die, I will.”

Blood hesitated and when he did, she used it to her advantage and escaped. The Mirakuru soldier retreated from his fight against the Amazon and reported to Slade what Blood had done. The mayor returned to his office and waited for Slade or Isabel to appear and demand an explanation. He was just starting to pour his second drink when Isabel walked in, demanding to know where the cure was. She killed him when he said he let the cure, and the woman with the cure, get away.

Felicity tried to get to the clocktower as quickly as possible. Along the way, she came across people who were in danger and felt compelled to help them. These people had nothing to do with Slade’s vendetta and didn’t deserve to suffer for it.

 

Oliver, Digg, Diana, and Donna reconvened at the clocktower. As soon as the siege started, Oliver knew the foundry would be compromised and one of the Amazons moved Roy here. No one had seen Felicity since she ran off to find the courier. By the time Oliver and Digg arrived at the van, the man was already dead and the case was gone.

Oliver was looking out over the city and trying to push down the feeling of complete helplessness and hopelessness he was feeling.

Then, John spoke. “I just got off the phone with Star Labs. The cure they sent us was all they had. They used all the Mirakuru we gave them, so they can’t make more.”

“We can’t defeat Slade without the cure.”

“It’s a good thing I got to the van when I did then.” Felicity announced from behind them. She was holding the handle of a metal case like her life depended on it. “Also, its good Antiope brought back-up because another Amazon was fighting one of Slade’s men off, giving me time to get this.” She opened the case and showed them the rows and rows of the cure that were laying inside. “What do you say we end this once and for all?”


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons and Team Arrow go to war against Slade.

Felicity loaded a dose of the cure into a syringe and injected it into Roy’s arm. Everyone stood in the clocktower watching and waiting for something to happen. Felicity’s phone rang and Lance told her to turn on the news. She found a news station and saw troops marching into the city. Oliver saw the same thing and pulled his phone out.

They only heard half of the conversation, but clearly whoever arrived wasn’t the army and Oliver didn’t trust them. After Amanda Waller told him she could only wait until dawn, he hung up and brought everyone up to speed on the situation. If Slade and his army weren’t handled by dawn, ARGUS was going to bomb the city back to the stone age.

As soon as Oliver finished explaining, Roy gasped awake and a Mirakuru soldier broke through the ceiling. Diana fought him off, but then saw he wasn’t alone. With the building overrun, they were forced to flee with the cure. Seconds after Felicity, who was the last one to leave, landed on the street, a helicopter flew up to the building and John’s girlfriend Lyla fired a rocket into it.

Diana, Donn and Felicity left to find the other Amazons while Oliver, Digg, Lyla and Roy went back to the foundry to wait for them. The Amazons beat them there and were preparing for a fight. While John and Lyla were arguing about how to handle Waller, and Roy and Oliver were searching for injection arrows, Antiope pulled Felicity aside.

“You left this in Themiscyra.” She said, handing Felicity her bow.

“I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t need it.” she said. “I need to find more injection arrows.”

“What for?” Another Amazon asked.

“The Arrow doesn’t kill.”

“That is a nice moral to have, but sometimes there is no other way.”

“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it my way.” Oliver said from where he was standing.

“The Amazons even things out, but he still has superior numbers.” Digg pointed out. “Slade has about fifty or so of those human weapons. We’re gonna need an army, well a bigger army, if we’re gonna hit them all with the cure.”

“I know.” Sara’s voice called out.

“Which is why an army is what I’ve brought.” Nyssa finished for her.

Everyone spun around to where the voices came from. Sara, Nyssa and six League members stood there. Oliver, Digg and most of the Amazons lowered their weapons slightly. Donna and Diana didn’t.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Donna scoffed.

“Mom, you know them?”

“These seven personally, no. Their organization, yes.” She answered. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked them to come. For help against Slade.” Sara explained.

“And you know who they are? What they do?”

“Yes.”

“You understand what you’re getting into, asking him for assistance?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Donna said, lowering her sword.

Donna’s knowledge of the League of Assassins intrigued Nyssa and she walked over to where Donna, Diana and Felicity were. “I am Nyssa, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, Heir to the Demon.”

Donna bit back her comment about how that didn’t surprise her, since Nyssa was a lot like her father. That would’ve led to more questions, so she kept her thoughts to herself. “Donna. This is Diana and Felicity.”

“Ok, introductions can, and should, totally wait until after we’ve dealt with Slade.” Felicity cut in. “Too bad we don’t know where he or his men are.”

“Slade Wilson and Isabel Rochev are using Queen Consolidated as their base of operations.”

Oliver nodded and grabbed his bow. He handed Roy a box containing a mask for him as well. The Amazons finished arming themselves and turned towards him. “We do this my way. No killing.”

“We will honor that unless its unavoidable.” Hippolyta told him.

“The League doesn’t take prisoners.” Nyssa argued.

“It does tonight.”

 

Oliver, Sara, Felicity, Roy and Diana snuck into QC and tried to cure as many soldiers as they could before Slade noticed their presence. It didn’t last very long, and the group of five was soon on the top floor fighting off several soldiers at once.

“Elevator bay’s clear.” Sara said as she and Diana dealt with the last two stragglers.

“Conference room’s clear.” Oliver said as Felicity shot an arrow into the last Mirakuru soldier standing.

They headed into Oliver’s former office where Slade, Isabel and half a dozen others were armed and waiting.

“You must have a lot of faith in this cure if you’ve come alone.”

“Who says we’re alone?” Diana countered.

Just then, the League and the three Amazons crashed through the windows. The masked soldiers were shot quickly and started to convulse as they were cured. Isabel began fighting against Sara and Nyssa, while Diana and Felicity dealt with the newly cured soldiers. Oliver fired arrows at Slade, which bounced off his armor. He moved to jump out the window, but found Donna in his path.

“I don’t think so.” She said, holding her sword to his throat.

“I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You won’t.”

They fought, and he was surprised to see they were nearly evenly matched.

“You’re holding back.” Slade remarked. He grinned. “Don’t.”

Donna started to attack with much for ferocity after that. He was able to escape when another group of his men arrived and Donna had to turn her attention to them. He fled, leaving them all behind. Sara and Nyssa managed to disarm Isabel. The brunette began taunting Oliver, pointing out that no matter what happened next, she still won either way. Nyssa got tired of hearing her talk and broke her neck, which angered Oliver.

 

With every one of Slade’s men in the building either cured or dead, but him still at large, they had to regroup and figure out what to do next. The other Amazons, who’d been out trying to protect civilians joined as well. Lance arrived and told them Slade had abducted Laurel. Felicity also learned, through a satellite she’d hacked, that Slade’s army was amassing inside a tunnel. They were trying to leave the city. The League and the Amazons welcomed the news, since them trying to leave meant everyone they needed to fight would be all in one place. They had lost their significant numbers advantage.

“Let me see the battle formations.” Antiope said, walking over to Felicity. She showed her the tablet. “What are their numbers?”

“Between 25 and 30, not including Slade.”

“And how many do we have?”

“27.” Oliver answered.

“We’ll take the north end of the tunnel, you take the south end.” Antiope said referring to the Amazons.

“A pincer move.” Donna said. “Well, it’s a classic and if it ain’t broke, right?”

“I’m sorry, what are you saying?” Lance asked.

“Some of us will attack from one end of the tunnel. The rest will attack from the other. Since it’s a tunnel, Slade’s forces will be trapped in the middle with nowhere to go. They’ll bottleneck and we can thin them out more quickly.”

“And you’re sure this will work?” Oliver said. Their plan sounded good, but they made it sound so easy. Too easy almost and he was skeptical.

“Oliver, she was fighting in wars before Rome was built. I’m gonna go with her instincts on this one.” Felicity said. “Let’s go.”

Everyone headed towards the tunnel. Diana and Felicity stayed with Oliver and the League while the rest of the Amazons gathered at the far end of the tunnel. When they arrived, the contingent of men ARGUS had sent were already dead. Once they were sure everyone was in place, they attacked.

Slade’s army tried to press forward past the Amazons but weren’t able to gain an inch. They tried to turn and retreat, but were met by Oliver and the others. With attacks coming from both sides, it didn’t take very long for every Mirakuru soldier to be cured and defeated.

Oliver called Slade to tell him it was over and to surrender. Slade countered by reminding Oliver that he had Laurel and was going to kill her if he didn’t do exactly what Slade said. Oliver panicked at that. He knew he had to cure Slade in order to stop him, but he didn’t have a plan to do that. There was no way he could get close enough to Slade to inject him with the cure. Any tricks or diversions he might try could get Laurel killed. He didn’t love her like he once did, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her or want her to get hurt.

“How am I supposed to cure Slade without getting Laurel hurt, or worse, killed?”

“Maybe you aren’t.” Felicity said.

“What do you-?”

“Slade’s gotten this far because he knows you, he knows how you think, how you react. He knows you and he knows Sara, to a lesser extent.” She said. “He knows what to expect from you. He doesn’t know what to expect from me.”

“Felicity, I can’t-“ He didn’t want her to go up against Slade. He didn’t want her to get hurt. “I can’t let you do that.”’

“It’s not up to you.” she said as she picked up an unused injection arrow.

Oliver went to the energy plant where Slade was hiding, like he was told. Sara, Felicity and Diana went with him and snuck in through the back entrance. They knew Slade was probably expecting something like that, but did it anyway. Oliver rounded the corner with his bow ready and found Slade standing there with his sword at Laurel’s throat. Slade launched into a speech about finally getting his revenger and how he was doing all of this for Shado. While he was talking, Felicity crept to a higher vantage point.

“I know Sara’s been sneaking up behind me this whole time. So, when her body, and her sister’s, lie at your feet, then you will know how I feel!”

“I already know how you feel. I know what its like to hate, to want revenge. And now, thanks to you, I know what its like to see my enemy so distracted, that he’s blind to the real danger.”

While Oliver was speaking, Felicity lined up her shot and managed to hit Slade in between the plates of his armor. He gasped in shock and turned to see Felicity standing there. She jumped down from where she was hidden to take out the two other Mirakuru soldiers who were with Slade.

Sara grabbed Laurel and got her away from the fighting, while Oliver fought Slade. The fight wound up leading them to the roof. Felicity searched the building for any lingering soldiers before heading up to the roof to help Oliver. They were running very low on time.

“You beat me, you’re gonna have to kill me.” Slade growled. “And in the moment of my death, you’ll have proved one thing: that you are a murderer.”

She could see that Oliver’s knee was starting to act up, and jumped into the fight before he could hurt himself any further. Slade and Felicity began to fight. Even with the Mirakuru, Amazons were stronger than him. Without the serum, Slade was too weak and too slow to be much of a challenge. Using a tiny bit of extra strength, she pushed Slade backwards and he collided with a column. Oliver shot an ensnarement arrow at him before he could move away, which kept him restrained.

He then radioed Waller to tell her the fight was over and to call back the drones. The nightmare was finally over.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity talk about what happens next, and Oliver has a confession to make.

With Slade restrained and the city no longer in danger of being levelled, Oliver and Felicity left the energy plant and headed back into the city. They didn’t talk much on their trip back since neither had any idea what to say. They still didn’t quite know how they ended up here. Fighting, being in the field was still new to Felicity. She never could’ve imagined that she would help take down a superstrong madman with an axe to grind. For weeks, Oliver had begun to think that beating Slade was impossible. That there wasn’t a way for him to protect the city from Slade’s vendetta. He was happy to be wrong.

“Your, um, that was a nice shot. When you hit Slade with the cure.” Oliver said, wanting to break the silence. He wanted to talk about what happened in the tunnel. Or how he felt, but now didn’t seem like the best time.

“Thanks. Your form when you were fighting him was impressive.” She responded. His comment wasn’t what she was expecting, but she didn’t want to be rude.

“Did you do a lot of archery training? On the island?” He asked. They hadn’t really talked about what she’d done on the island exactly, just that she’d trained while she was there.

“Pretty often. Antiope thought I might be better at it than hand-to-hand combat, which was true at the beginning. And I apparently have a natural talent at it, according to her.”

“Really? The first time you shot an arrow, what happened?” That surprised Oliver, who was struggling to reconcile the blonde hacker he met last year with the warrior in front of him.

“Promise not to laugh?” She asked and he nodded. “I hit the target, but like the very, very edge. The arrow was barely in it.”

“That’s better than me. First time I held a bow, I missed the mark by about five feet.” He admitted. “Out of curiosity, how good are you? At archery I mean?”

“Is this your way of challenging me to find out which one of us is better?” she teased. “Because as long as there are no backflips involved, I accept.”

“Backflips?”

“You parkour off of buildings while shooting. I can do the shooting, but gymnastics isn’t in my skillset.” She said right as they reached the foundry. She punched in the code and they went downstairs. Roy, Digg and the Amazons were already down there.

“Just got a call from Lyla. ARGUS has Slade in their custody.” John told them.

“Kinda surprised Waller didn’t take the whole infiltrating ARGUS thing badly.” Felicity remarked.

“Oh, she did. But it also stopped her from making a huge mistake, so she’s decided her actions and ours cancel each other out.”

“You have to love Amanda Waller’s ability to justify anything.” Oliver said. “Where’s Sara?”

“With her family. She had some explaining to do after the last 24 hours.” Roy said. “So, Blondie is suddenly a badass.”

“Where have you been? I’ve been a badass all along.” She shot back. “Now, I’m just better at it.”

“Yes, indeed.” Hippolyta remarked. “You were quite ‘badass’. I’m sure my sisters would agree.” Antiope nodded.

“I’m so proud of you, baby!” Donna squealed. She was proud of how far Felicity had come in only a few months and how well she’d fought.

“Mom!” she said in a very clear ‘you’re embarrassing me’ tone.

“What?”

“Why don’t we leave Felicity and her friends alone?” Diana suggested. “There’s something I want you to try.”

“What would that be?” One of the Amazons asked.

“It’s a confection called ice cream.” She explained as she led the Amazons out of the foundry.

“Change out of your armor before you do that!” Felicity called after them. The last thing she needed was for them to show up at Baskin Robbins looking like they stepped out of the show Spartacus.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.” Oliver said. “I didn’t because we had bigger problems and it was more of a curiosity thing than anything else. You said that a lot of Greek myths are wrong. How many of them are a little bit true?”

He’d taken an interest in Greek mythology after The Odyssey had almost helped him escape Lian Yu his first year. He’d found the subject interesting before that, but afterwards his interest had increased exponentially.

“What do you mean?”

“Was there really a minotaur? How much of the odyssey really happened? Did Troy exist?” He asked. “Do the Greek gods actually exist or did they exist?”

“I know they exist, because they created the Amazons. Also, Diana was sculpted from clay and Zeus brought her to life. He also hid Themiscyra from the outside world using his powers.” Felicity said. “As for the rest, I don’t really know. My mom or Diana would be better people to ask. Diana because she was raised on the island and my mom because she would’ve been there when it happened.”

“Your mom was there?” Digg asked.

“Yes, my mother is-,” She almost said ‘old’ but stopped herself. “She was born a long time ago.”

They stayed in the lair for a little while longer. Roy left when his calls to Thea kept going to voicemail. Digg went home to check on Lyla, leaving Oliver and Felicity alone in the foundry.

“I’m guessing the Amazons are probably going to leave in a few days.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“And, are you going to go with them?”

“Um, I don’t- I’m not sure.” Felicity answered. “I left because I felt like I had to, and I like the island but now I-“

“Don’t go.” He blurted out. “I don’t- I want you to stay.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I- I want- I have feelings for you, Felicity. And I’d like- I want to explore them. With you.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity responds to Oliver's confession, they travel to Lian Yu and its time for some to go home.

“Don’t go.” Oliver blurted out. “I don’t- I want you to stay.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I- I want- I have feelings for you, Felicity. And I’d like- I want to explore them. With you.”

“I-“ She was speechless. She couldn’t remember the last time she didn’t know what to say. “What are you saying?”

“I love you. And I want you to stay.” Oliver said.

“Are you- you aren’t just saying this so I’ll stay, right?”

“No. I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ve- for a while I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you how I felt and now- please say you’ll stay.”

Felicity didn’t say anything, but launched herself at Oliver for a hug. They fell backwards onto one of the training mats and he let out a groan. Oliver hadn’t experienced Felicity’s Amazonian strength himself yet and hadn’t had time to brace himself before she ran into him.

“Sorry. I got excited and I can’t always control my strength when that happens.” She said apologetically.

“It’s okay. Just warn me next time.” he said laughing. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yeah.” She said, bending down to kiss Oliver. The kiss deepened and they pulled apart after several minutes. “I should probably get off of you.”

“You don’t-“ He didn’t have an issue with how they were situated right now.

“I really think I should.” She said, standing up. “Why am I hungry all of a sudden?”

Oliver sighed and stood up. “Adrenaline probably. Or maybe its because we haven’t eaten in like twelve hours, because I’m hungry too. Big Belly?”

“You read my mind.” She was never happier that Big Belly Burger was open 24 hours.

They ate at Big Belly Burger before parting ways to go home. They both were leaving the next day to take Slade to his prison on Lian Yu.

 

On Lian Yu, Oliver told Slade he was in purgatory before closing the door behind him. Slade continued to yell threats after him and the shouts echoed in his ears as Oliver climbed out of the hatch and emerged onto the beach. Felicity and Digg stood five yards away from him, waiting.

“I didn’t notice last time, but its kinda beautiful here.” Felicity said. “You know, without if there weren’t landmines and crazy men with swords swearing vengeance.”

“So, having been to two islands, which one’s better? Lian Yu or Themiscyra?” Oliver asked, walking over to them.

“Oh, Themiscyra by a mile. it’s in the Mediteranean so its warm all year round. There aren’t any landmines and the view’s way better.”

“Yeah, that was kinda a dumb question. Who wouldn’t pick a beautiful tropical island inhabited by fierce warrior women over this place?” he admitted. “The weather alone means Lian Yu loses.”

“Any other island on the planet should win over this place.” Digg pointed out.

“Let’s go home.”

“I’m flying.” Oliver insisted.

“If you were on this island for five years, when did you learn to fly a plane?” Felicity asked as they boarded the small plane they’d taken to Lian Yu.

“That’s a story for another day.”

 

They returned to Starling and Felicity met up with the Amazons to say goodbye. They had stayed for an extra few days but Antiope and Hippolyta both felt like it was time for them to return home. The city was nice but they missed the island and were separated from man’s world for a reason.

Everyone gathered in the abandoned warehouse where Diana had hidden the invisible jet. Roy walked over to one of the Amazons and started talking.

“Are all the women on Themsicyra as beautiful as you?” he asked. “Because if they are, I think the island should be called Heaven.”

Felicity started laughing. “Roy, that was bad. Worse than any of Oliver’s excuses, bad.”

He threw her an annoyed look, but continued. “I don’t suppose any of you wanna stay? I can show you a little more about this world. Personally.”

“I’m afraid you aren’t their type.” Diana told him. The two warriors he was talking to happened to already be in relationships.

“You say that like-“

“Roy, just stop.” Oliver said. “They aren’t interested and they’re going home.” He scoffed and stormed off.

The Amazons got onto the jet, with Diana, Antiope, Hippolyta and Donna lingering. “I hope you have a safe flight.”

“I’m not going back to the island.” Donna said. “Well, not yet.”

Felicity was surprised by her decision. “Really? I thought- its your home.”

“And it’ll always be my home. But right now, I wanna see more of the world.”

“Hopefully this time you’ll visit more often.” Hippolyta remarked. “Nearly a century and a half is a bit long, don’t you think?”

Oliver, Roy and Diggle looked between the women for any signs this was some kind of inside joke or exaggeration. Based on their expressions, it wasn’t. They stood with their mouths hanging slightly open.

“We’ill miss you, both of you,” Diana started to say, “but if you need us, you know where we’ll be.”

“You’re going back too?” Felicity said. She’d miss all of the Amazons, but Diana was the one she was the saddest to see go.

“My sabbatical from the Louvre lasts for another month, so you’ll see me again before you know it.” She smiled. “After all, the restorations in Starling’s museums aren’t completed yet.” she turned to Oliver. “Take good care of her.”

“I plan to.”

Felicity said goodbye to the rest of her family and the Amazons took off.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity starts going into the field, and Starling gets a new hero.

A few nights after the Amazons left, Team Arrow, minus Roy who needed a few days to clear his head, were assembled in the foundry. Slade’s attack had led to a lot of criminals breaking out of Iron Heights and running amok on the city. It was time to fix that.

“So, how exactly are we gonna do this?” Felicity asked.

“Do what?”

“Well, I’ve had training, both defensive and offensive.” She started. “And, not to be rude, but I’m the most powerful member of this team, so I’m gonna start going into the field and out on patrol-”

“Where are you going with this?” Oliver asked.

“Fine, I’ll get to the point. If I’m in the field, and both of you are too, who’s gonna run the comms?” She asked. Neither of her teammates had an answer for that. “You didn’t really think about it that much, did you?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll stay and run them.” Digg volunteered. “For tonight at least. We can figure the rest out later.” He could tell that Felicity really wanted to go out and help protect the city. He hadn’t a chance to talk to her and tell her that she shouldn’t feel like just because she could go out and fight bad guys meant she had to. 

She briefly walked Digg through how to navigate her system and Oliver and Felicity headed out. they were patrolling when Digg told them about suspected gang activity near where they were, which led them to a dilapidated warehouse.

They were able to get fairly close to the gang members before one of them spotted the pair, cuasing them to split up. Felicity began fighting off two low-level gang members while Oliver ran off to find the leader. She’d knocked out her two opponents and made her way towards where Oliver was.

“Felicity,” Digg said over the comms, “you’ve got incoming from your left.”

She spun around just in time to dodge a third gang member swinging a bat at her. “Thanks for the head’s up. Maybe give me a little more warning next time.” She tore the bat out of the man’s hands and shot an ensnarement arrow at him.

“Everyone’s a critic.”

Felicity snorted and ran further into the derelict building. Oliver and the gang leader he was fighting were duking it out, hand-to-hand.

“Give up, Robin Hood. You can’t beat me, and you’re all out of arrows.” The gangster taunted.

“I’m not.” Felicity said as she fired an arrow at him. She hit him in the shoulder, which threw him off his rhythm and Oliver used the distraction to knock him out. “What would you do without me?”

“Let’s hope I never have to find out.”

“You two might wanna get out of there, SCPD’s been called and they’re on their way.” Digg reported.

“Good. Let’s go, this place smells like crap.” Felicity remarked. “Literally.”

They walked out of the warehouse and were heading back towards the center of town when they heard tires screech behind them and then someone shouted.

“SCPD! Freeze! Put your hands in the air!” A patrol officer shouted. Both archers raised their arms and slowly spun around. The officer was young, probably a rookie and his hands were shaking as he pointed his gun in their direction.

“You’ll find four gang members you’ve been looking for in the building behind you.” Oliver said.

“Don’t move!”

Not wanting to still be there when more officers showed up, and a little impatient, Oliver dropped a smoke bomb, which gave them a chance to escape. The patrolman radioed in a sighting of the Arrow and an unknown female accomplice before heading into the building.

 

Oliver and Felicity split up for a little while after that. He prevented a few drug deals and a random mugging. She stopped two robberies and an attempted assault. The last perpetrator was delivered to the SCPD a little more banged up than the others. They arrived back at the foundry a little before dawn.

“Glad you’re both back. Lance keeps trying to reach out.” Digg remarked, tossing Felicity’s phone to Oliver. “And I can’t exactly replicate Felicity’s voice.”

“You could’ve turned on a voice modulator and replicated his though.” She pointed out as Oliver dialed the phone.

“Captain.”

“I hear you’ve got a new partner.” Lance said.

“And if I do?”

“Long as she doesn’t start dropping bodies, not my problem.” Lance said. “Thanks gift-wrapping the gangbangers this time.” he hung up.

Felicity walked over to one of the computers and started typing something in, to Oliver’s confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Turning on the news.” She answered, right as the morning news broadcast started.

“We bring you breaking news this morning. The Arrow has a partner.” The anchor said. “For weeks, rumors have circulated about a female vigilante in gladiatorial armor operating in the city. The number of sightings increased during the siege, although many witness statements contradicted each other.” The feed cut to surveillance footage from just before the siege and during the siege. A few frames were other Amazons, but most of the video was Felicity. “We’ve received footage verifying that not only is the vigilante active in Starling City, but she’s working, or in the very least allied, with the Arrow.” A tape of Oliver and Felicity approaching the warehouse earlier that evening began to play. “SCPD confirmed the partnership just moments ago, via press conference.”

“We have reason to believe the Arrow is working with a currently unidentified female vigilante.” An SCPD spokesperson said. “We have confirmed she fought alongside the Arrow during the siege last week.”

Reporters raised their hands and started asking questions about Felicity. What was her codename? What did she want? Was the SCPD looking to arrest her? How long had she been allied with the Arrow? Was it possible she was also the Canary?

Felicity closed the window and turned back to look at John and Oliver. “I should come up with a codename, shouldn’t I? I mean, you didn’t, and everyone called you The Hood for a year. I don’t wanna know what name they might come up with for me.”

“How about Artemis?” John suggested. “I mean, you are an archer.”

“No. One, there’s an Amazon with the that name. And two, my mom isn’t a huge fan of Artemis, the actual Greek Goddess. They’ve met and from what I’ve gathered, they don’t get along.”

“Your mother has met an actual goddess?” Oliver asked.

“After everything you’ve learned about my family, you really shouldn’t be surprised.” She remarked. “So, not Artemis.” She started searching for name ideas and read one aloud. “How about Titania? I like the way that sounds.”

“Well, it’s your codename.”

Deciding she liked the name, Felicity decided she’d now be known as Titania. A few days later, she stumbled upon Lance while out on patrol and introduced herself. The SCPD released another statement the next day, revealing the Arrow’s accomplice was known as Titania and denying the rumor that it was the Canary. Over the next month and a half, the Arrow and Titania continued to track down Iron Heights escapees and the general public seemed to view Titania favorably.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Arrow continues to fight crime until an unexpected visit changes things.

The last four months had seen a lot of changes on Team Arrow. Digg, getting closer to fatherhood every day, had taken over Felicity’s job running the comms. She still updated the systems and ran some of the more complicated searches if the need arose, but on the average night, Digg ran the comms and Felicity went into the field.

While for the most part Felicity patrolled with Oliver and Roy, there were times where they split up for one reason or another or she insisted on working alone. Tonight was one such night, she came across an apartment building that was on fire. Most of the residents were outside but a man in his mid-twenties was on the sidewalk yelling about people still inside. The others were trying to assure him that the fire department was on their way, but he didn’t care since the building was burning now.

By now, Titania was well known throughout the city and had proven she wasn’t just the Arrow’s sidekick. Felicity strolled over to the upset man and addressed him. “The people inside, you’re sure they’re home?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, where in the building are they?”

“Fourth floor, apartment C. I tried to help them, but there’s rubble in the way and-“

Once she knew where to look, Felicity ran into the building. The first three floors seemed unharmed by the fire. It was definitely warm in the building, but the fire hadn’t reached the lower floors yet. The fourth floor was another story. The fire had started on the fifth floor and when it grew to a certain size, the ceilings on the fourth floor started to cave in. A large chuck of the ceiling fell onto the fourth floor, blocking the door to the apartment in question.

The fire wasn’t nearing the apartment just yet, but the air was already smoky and the temperature was getting very, very hot. Thankful for her Amazonian strength, Felicity began to break through the debris blocking the door. The debris was heavy and thick, but luckily it wasn’t as hard to break through as concrete, which would’ve taken her a while to destroy.

With the door no longer blocked, Felicity banged on it to tell the tenant it was safe. She didn’t get any kind of response, so she aimed a kick right above the lock and the door fell in. Inside, she found a woman in her mid-thirties and two small children lying on the floor. She checked their pulses, which were weak but present. Using her enhanced strength, she carried all three out of the building right as the fire department and EMTs arrived.

The woman and her kids were the first ones to get checked out and the man who’d been screaming for help walked over to Felicity.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It’s what I do.”

“Maybe, but no one else could’ve gotten all of them out so quickly.” He said before walking away.

Titania’s heroic actions made the news. The team congratulated her, although Roy was a little moody about it. He claimed that every time Felicity did something cool, he wasn’t there to see it.

“How do you do it?” Oliver asked her as they packed up for the night.

“Well, I moved the rubble and broke down the door-”

“That’s not what I meant. It seems like every night that you suggest we split up or you insist on patrolling alone, you come across something like this happening. A fire, that huge accident a few weeks ago, the hostage situation in July.”

“I don’t- I can’t really explain it. it’s like, I get this instinct, like I should head out alone and then I end up finding a bunch of people in danger. I’m not- it’s not like I’m trying to stop you from helping or trying to get all the glory for myself.”

“I know. It’s just- you’re amazing.”

“Thanks.” She said with a smile. “I wasn’t the only one who had a good night. You guys did great. You caught four Iron Heights escapees.”

“Six, actually.” He said. The number of escapees was now in the single digits. “Ready to go?”

“Yup.” She said, leading the way out of the lair.

 

Over the last few months, Felicity had started working as a freelance coder. While Isabel hadn’t been able to fire Felicity during her hostile takeover, the blonde found that with QC’s fate up in the air and everything else that was going on, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep working for the company. Oliver had tried and failed to get his family’s company back, which only made her more reluctant to get her old job back.

She was supposed to meet with a new client about a project at Jitters and let out a groan when she saw Ray Palmer enter the building and make a beeline towards her. Ray was the person who convinced the board not to give Queen Consolidated back to Oliver and had been attempting to contact Felicity ever since.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m the client you’re meeting. You were avoiding my calls, and one of my staff pointed out that I might be going about this the wrong way, so I made an appointment to talk to you.”

“I’m not interested.” She said, standing up.

“You don’t even know what I’m offering or what I want.” He pointed out.

“If I change my mind, I’ll call you.” She said, leaving the café.

 

A new version of Vertigo had started popping up around the city since the siege and Team Arrow was trying to get to the bottom of it. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the culprit wasn’t just trying to sell drugs, he was trying to become the only crime boss in the city. When they realized all of Zytle’s, the new Count Vertigo, competition were in the same building, they knew he was going to attempt something.

The Arrow, Arsenal and Titania sped to Rockets Arena, expecting to run into trouble. While searching the building, Roy found a massive bomb, capable of levelling the entire arena. Felicity joined Roy in trying to disarm it while Oliver fought Zytle. The man injected Oliver with a dose of his new, and worse, version of Vertigo, but he was able to stay focused and fight him. He also got some unexpected help when someone else started fighting Zytle’s followers.

“Don’t look so surprised.” Sara said when Oliver spun around to face her. “I haven’t been gone that long.”

With the bomb dealt with, Felicity sprinted outside to see Sara. She’d missed the Canary over the last few months. They had a short reunion before Sara left to visit her sister. Both Oliver and Felicity told her to let them know next time she was in town so they could meet up again without a bomb threat going on.

Sara left to visit Laurel, while Oliver and Felicity went to Starling General. Lyla had gone into labor right as Roy managed to stop the explosion. They met Diggle’s daughter before heading home. The next day, Oliver, Felicity and Roy arrived at Verdant to find Laurel standing in the foundry, crying over Sara’s body.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team reacts to Sara's death.

Sara’s body was laid out on one of the tables in the foundry. Three arrows were protruding from her chest and there was blood coming from her forehead. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling. Felicity felt like she was underwater. She could sort of make out the sounds of Laurel crying and Oliver trying to comfort her, but it sounds like the noise was coming from several yards away.

She walked over to Sara’s body and closed her eyes. “What happened?” She asked.

“Sara- we were talking but then I needed to head to the police station. I was just leaving the building when I saw her fall off of the roof. She- she hit her head on a dumpster when she fell and- I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t just leave her there.” Laurel answered. “It’s not fair.”

“No, its not.” She responded. “Which building?”

“What?”

“Where did this happen?” Oliver clarified. “If we go there, there might be evidence or clues. Maybe a camera caught what happened.”

Laurel told them the address and Oliver took off to see the scene of the crime. Felicity almost went with him, but then she looked at the body and knew she couldn’t leave her friend in that state. Roy stayed behind to help her.

Felicity slowly and carefully removed the arrows from Sara’s chest. She didn’t want to damage Sara’s body any more than it already was. “I never thought this could happen. I mean, I know that sounds weird, and I feel like that’s a normal thing to say in this situation, but I- in my head, Sara was this….total badass, unstoppable warrior. Invincible. I didn’t- Sorry, I can’t really explain it.”

“No, I get it.” Roy responded. “I didn’t think she could die, either. It’s unfathomable.” The room fell quiet for several moments. “How are you holding up?”

“Not great. You?”

“Same, but I didn’t know her like you did. Sara is- was- your best friend. You guys spent weeks on Amazon Island training. She was my friend, but you two were- how are you really feeling?”

“Sad. Angry. I wish, I just wish I’d spent longer talking to her yesterday. The last thing I said to her was some stupid joke about Oliver’s frowny face.” She said. “I’m gonna miss her.”

“We’re all gonna miss her.”

Felicity and Roy went back to cataloging Sara’s stuff and gathering evidence. Felicity looked at Sara’s wounds and noticed something odd about them. The arrows went straight into her chest, not down at an angle. Given how deep the wounds were, she was shot from fairly close distance. Those two factors together meant whoever shot her had to be around her height.

She filed that piece of information away and finished cleaning the blood off of Sara’s face right as Oliver returned with John.

“Do you have any idea what other archer could’ve done this?”

“There aren’t that many of us. Maybe ten that I know of, and most of them are in the League of Assassins.”

“You don’t think-.”

“No. They don’t target their own.” Oliver insisted.

“Are any of them around my height?” Felicity asked.

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“Her wounds. She was shot from a close distance and they went in at a straight angle. If someone around your height fired the arrows, they would’ve entered at a downwards angle because of the height difference.” She explained.

Felicity suddenly got a hit on the archer that had killed a construction foreman. Even though he might not be Sara’s killer, Oliver still followed up the lead. Felicity declined to go out with him, saying her head wasn’t in the right place at the moment.

After Oliver left, Felicity pulled out her phone. “Hey, Diana. It’s me. I- can you call me back? There’s something I kinda need to tell you. It’s important.”

Oliver and Laurel stopped the archer, Simon Lacroix, but it turned out he didn’t kill Sara. He had a solid alibi, since he was committing another murder in Bludhaven during that time. He was arrested and Oliver vowed not to give up on finding Sara’s killer.

He returned to the foundry that night to find Felicity sitting down there, waiting for him. “I know it’s a dumb question, but how are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you arent. Sara, a woman you used to love, is dead. She was murdered. No one could be fine in that scenario.”

“I know, but everyone’s looking to me to lead, to know what to do. So, I can’t grieve, or no one else gets to.” he admitted.

“So, do it now. No one’s expecting anything out of you. No one’s looking to you for guidance. Mourn Sara. I’ll do it with you.” She offered. “Or better yet, let’s go home and mourn.”

“Home?”

“Well, you’ve practically moved in and I don’t think either of us should be alone right now.” Felicity said. “Please.”

“I’m not in the best headspace right now.” He said.

“Neither am I. No one is.”

 

Donna knocked on Felicity’s door, expecting her daughter or Oliver to answer right away. The lights were on and she could hear the TV, so she knew Felicity was home. She was shocked when no one came to the door and over the TV, she heard sniffling. Not caring about how upset Felicity might get at her actions, Donna kicked the door in.

“Mom?” Felicity said, wiping her face. “What are you doing here?”

“I just got back from my trip. I wanted to stop by and say ‘hi’. Why are you crying? What happened?”

“It’s Sara, she-“

“He killed her, didn’t he?” Donna asked.

Oliver, who’d been in the bathroom came storming into the room when he heard the door slam open. “I didn’t-“

Felicity began to say the same thing. “No, Oliver couldn’t-.”

“Not Oliver. Ra’s al Ghul, the Demon Head. I knew she shouldn’t have asked for his help.”

“How do you know that name?”


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna tells the story of how she knows Ra's al Ghul.

“Not Oliver. Ra’s al Ghul, the Demon Head. I knew she shouldn’t have asked for his help.”

“How do you know that name?” Oliver asked Donna.

“I’m thousands of years old. I spent nearly the last century and a half exploring this world. It shouldn’t surprise you that we’ve crossed paths at some point.”

“You knew Sara was in the League?” Felicity asked.

“Her fighting style was familiar to me and I thought she could’ve been trained by someone in the League of Assassins. It wasn’t until she brought them here to fight Slade that I knew for sure.”

“The League doesn’t kill their own.” Oliver pointed out.

“Yes, they do.” Donna responded. “And even if she wasn’t killed by the League, she was killed during an assignment for the League, so he still got her killed.”

“What happened between you two?” Felicity asked. Clearly, Donna and Ra’s had more history between them than just meeting once.

**Hindu Kush-1876**

After leaving Themiscyra, Donna realized she didn’t know where in man’s world she wanted to go or what she wanted to see. As a result, she’d spent four years wandering eastern Europe and the Middle East, simply letting fate decided where she was heading to next.

Her blonde hair made her stand out quite a bit, and being unable to blend in caused Donna some trouble from time to time, so after a few months she began dying her hair a darker color. She wanted to explore the world, not fight across it, so changing her appearance was the wisest move.

After spending a few months traveling through Persia, Donna decided to continue moving east towards India. She took the scenic route, crossing over the Hindu Kush mountains rather than go around them.  The mountains here were so different from the ones on Themiscyra and she wanted to know what wonder they held.

She was walking through a valley in the mountain range when suddenly four men dressed all in black surrounded her.

“What is your business here?” One asked.

“I am a traveler. Just passing through the mountains on my way to India.” She explained.

“You will come with us.” Another said. He moved to grab her by the arm.

“No, I won’t.” She said, tearing her arm away and pushing both men away from her. She didn’t push them very hard, just enough for them to be moved a few feet away from her. She turned to their two cohorts. “I am going to continue on my way now.”

She kept walking while the group of four rode back to Nanda Parbat and told the Demon Head about the strange woman with incredible strength they’d encountered. As luck would have it, the next day, Donna stumbled upon Nanda Parbat. She got fairly close to the hidden city before being stopped.

“Identify yourself.” One of the guards demanded.

“I am Donna of Themiscyra.” She said.

“Follow me.” He said as he led her into the building.

It was customary for anyone who came to Nanda Parbat to be brought before the Demon Head and judged. Ra’s would decide whether the person would be trained as an assassin or executed. She was taken to Ra’s throne room and told to wait. Minutes later, the Demon Head entered the room.

“You wish to become one of us? To join the League of Assassins?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. He could tell by the way she stood that she had battle training, but her general demeanor didn’t strike him as very warrior-like.

“The League of what?” She asked confused. “I am traveling the world. Just passing through when I stumbled upon this place.” She explained. “I don’t wish to join anything.”

“You do not?” He asked, perplexed.

No one just happened across Nanda Parbat. it was in the middle of a very desolate and dangerous mountain range. Legends about the League had led many locals to believe anyone who entered the mountains would never return. Two men entered the room through a side door. Donna saw one of them and spoke.

“Hey, I know you. You’re the man from yesterday.”

“You know them?” The Demon Head asked.

“Yes, I was traveling through the mountains when they cornered me and started asking me why I was here.”

“Oh, so you are the mysterious woman my men encountered yesterday.” He commented, intrigued by her. “I am Ra’s al Ghul. The Demon Head.”

“I am Donna of Themiscyra, princess of the Amazons.” She replied.

“So, the legends are true of your people.”

Like most people, he’d heard stories about the Amazons while he was growing up. After he joined the League, he learned that the Amazons weren’t completely made up. According to the League’s records, the Amazons disappeared thousands of years ago, and no one outside of their society knew why.

“Some are true, others are just stories.”

“Tell me, Donna of Themiscyra, where are you travelling to?”

“I don’t have a set destination. Just going wherever the wind takes me, I suppose.” She answered honestly.

“I would like to invite you to stay here for some time, if you would like. There are many things about the Amazons and Themiscyra that I have long wished to know.”

Donna agreed to stay since she didn’t have anywhere she needed to be. She taught Ra’s a little bit more about her people, while he told her many things about the modern world. While she didn’t join the League, and was never asked to join, she did spar against some of their most decorated warriors from time to time. Before she knew it, she had been staying in Nanda Parbat for over six months.

During that period, Donna and Ra’s became closer. Being warriors, it was easy for them to build a friendship. Over time, that friendship transformed into something closer to a romance. Their almost-romance ended abruptly the day a woman and her young son were dragged into Nanda Parbat. They were brought before Ra’s, who killed them both.

“Why did you do that?” Donna demanded to know. She knew Ra’s was an assassin, everyone here was, but he made it sound like they only killed tyrants. The woman and her son were innocent.

“Her husband was an enemy of mine, an enemy of the League. They had to pay for his sins.” He explained with no emotion.

“He was your enemy, so you kill his family? They had nothing to do with what he did.”

“He abandoned his oath to the League to be with them. He knew the consequences of turning his back on us. There is only one way one leaves the League.”

When he said that, Donna saw red. She didn’t something she hadn’t done in a long time. she pulled her arm back and punched him as hard as she could. He went flying backwards and she took off. She quickly packed her things and left Nanda Parbat, heading towards Europe. She wanted to be as far away from this place as possible.

Once the Demon Head had recovered, his men asked him if they should follow after her. He ordered them not to. They would not win against her and he did not want to make things any more difficult than they already were.

Donna went to Europe and continued to live her life. She tried as hard as she could to forget about Ra’s, Nanda Parbat and the League of Assassins. Until the day Sara brought them to Starling.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starling City gets two visitors, one expected, one not. One has some vital information to share.

“Wait, wait, wait, back up.” Felicity said when Donna finished her story. “You dated Ra’s al Ghul.”

“No, we- we never dated. No one dated back then, it wasn’t a thing. But we did- I did develop feelings for him. and they were genuine, before I realized what kind of person he was.”

“You didn’t know what kind of person he was? His name is ‘The Demon Head’. He runs the League of Asssassins. How did neither of those things give it away?”

“I was young and naïve and believed him when he said everything he did was for the greater good of humanity.” Donna defended. “And trusting him when I shouldn’t have has haunted me for years.”

“Well, it-“

“Felicity, I know you’re upset, but I don’t think this is helping.” Oliver cut in. “Why do you think Ra’s has something to do with Sara’s death?”

“Because if a League member fails to kill their target, they become the target. And even if she was killed by her target, she was sent after said target by Ra’s. There’s only one way someone leaves the League.”

“So, Sara probably died because of the League. How do we find the person that killed her?” Felicity said.

“Find them?” Donna asked.

“Someone killed my friend. I might not want to kill Sara’s killer, but they need to be brought to justice. They need to pay for what they did.”

“First step would be to figure out who Sara’s target was. We need to know why she was in town so we can retrace what happened.” Oliver suggested.

“No, first we need to do something about her body.” Felicity said. “We can’t just leave her in a freezer. She deserves better than that.”

Oliver went to Verdant to retrieve Sara’s body while Felicity called John, Roy and Laurel. No one wanted to destroy Sara’s body, so there was only one thing they could do. They could bury her in her old grave. Laurel thought doing that was perverse, but no one had been able to come up with a better solution.

 

Diana, having gotten Felicity’s message, came to town the next day. Felicity explained what had happened to Sara and what her mother had said about why Sara died. Her cousin had heard of the League, but until the siege, hadn’t encountered them at any point. After spending some time with Felicity, Diana left to pay her respects to Sara. She came back to Felicity’s apartment an hour later.

“I’m sorry about Sara.” She said as soon as Felicity opened the door.

“You said that when I first told you.”

“I know, but I forgot to ask how you were doing. How you were coping with this.”

“I’m- I don’t- I’m sad. I’m angry. I miss her, I don’t- I don’t know how I’m doing. I wanna know what happened, I just- I have no idea what I’m supposed to do here. I feel so helpless.”

“That’s understandable. Death and grief are never easy. Sara is a dear friend, and she will be missed.” Diana told her cousin. “And you’ll figure out what you’re meant to do soon enough.”

 

Oliver’s search for Sara’s killer was halted when Felicity finally managed to locate Thea. He, Roy and John left for Corto Maltese for a few days to bring Thea home. Amanda Waller used their presence on the island as an excuse to rope them in to taking on a mission  for ARGUS to stop a rogue agent from selling secrets on the black market. After a lot of pleading, Oliver convinced Thea to come home.

The men went to the foundry and while Roy and Oliver were discussing how Thea’s behavior seemed odd, someone else arrived. Believing it was Felicity or Diana, they didn’t turn around. Then, the person spoke.

“Where is she? Where is Sara?” Nyssa asked, aiming an arrow at them. “She came here on behalf of the League two weeks ago. We’ve yet to hear from her since.”

“There’s something I have to-“

“She’s dead.” Felicity said from behind her. “Which is probably your father’s fault. And if it wasn’t his fault, it was still his doing. He’s the one who sent her here for the League after all.”

“You dare-?”

“You can get all uppity later. She was here for the League, you wanna tell us why?”

“She was chasing a rumor. A rumor that Malcolm Merlyn was alive.” Nyssa admitted. “Somehow, Moira Queen learned of his survival and managed to relay such information to my father. We’ve hunted him across the globe since then. When his trail led to Starling, my father thought Sara was the best person to pursue him.”

“Pursue who?” Diana asked as she entered the foundry. She recognized Nyssa from the fight against Slade, but was curious about why she was in town.

“You? What are you doing here?” Nyssa asked. Other than the siege, the last time she’d seen Diana was when Diana prevented her from kidnapping and killing Sara’s family.

“Felicity called me and she sounded upset, so I flew here to visit her. She told me about Sara’s death. I stayed for a few days so that I could pay my respects.” She explained. “Who was Sara pursuing?”

“Malcolm Merlyn. He might be alive, which is why Sara was in town. She was trying to find him.” Felicity explained.

“He is alive.” Nyssa insisted.

“Wasn’t he the man who caused the earthquake last year? I thought he was dead.” Diana said in a confused tone.

“So did we.” Oliver said.

“This is a waste of time. He killed Sara, so I’m going to go find him.” Nyssa said, turning to leave.

“No, that’s not what you should do. First, you should go see her.” Diana said.

“What?”

“We didn’t spend much time together when we battled Slade Wilson five months ago, but I know you cared deeply for her. You loved her. So, before you start off down this path of revenge, before you attempt to kill him, you should visit her grave. Say your goodbyes and mourn her.” She explained.

“How do you know what I feel?”

“I’ve lived a very long life. Sara Lance is not the first friend I’ve lost.” She told Nyssa where Sara was buried and the woman left.

“I’m not sure that was a good idea.”

“Everyone deserves a chance to mourn those they’ve lost.” She said. “I came to say goodbye.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“Yes, I’m returning to Themiscyra. Antiope, Aella, Egeria and Trigona, among others will want to know about Sara’s death. They respected her, they cared about her and they deserve to know what happened.”

“You’re right.” Felicity admitted. “Have a safe trip and tell them I’m looking for the person responsible. I know they’re gonna wanna know if the killer’s been caught.”

“I will, and I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.” Diana told her before leaving the building.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team faces off against Malcolm while Diana returns to Themiscyra to deliver some news.

**Starling**

After Nyssa had visited Sara’s grave, she returned to the foundry eager to hunt down Malcolm Merlyn. She stormed down the stairs and immediately stormed over to Oliver. “You claimed you have evidence relating to Sara’s death. And you have her belongings. Let me see them.”

Roy grabbed her things, which were in plastic bags in a large bin and began looking through the bin. “She didn’t have a lot on her. Most of this stuff’s her clothes and weapons. And, of course, the arrows. But she did have this in her boot.” He handed over a blank piece of paper. “I mean, why would she hide a blank piece of paper in her shoe?”

“I don’t think it’s actually blank.” Felicity remarked. Sara wouldn’t have hidden the paper in her shoe if it wasn’t important.

“She’s right.” Nyssa cut in. “Do you have a flame?”

Thankfully, they had a bunsen burner already set up and were able to use the flame from that to cause hidden ink on the paper to appear. Oliver saw the writing and something dawned on him.

“Invisible ink. Just like my father’s notebook.”

“Where do you think he got the idea from?” Nyssa remarked. “This is her handwriting.”

Sara’s notes didn’t make a lot of sense to the group, but one thing they managed to figure out was that before she died, Sara paid her father a visit. Maybe whatever she asked him could lead them to her killer, or Malcolm. Oliver called Laurel and asked her to talk to Lance.

Nyssa, meanwhile, approached Felicity. “I found this in Sara’s safehouse.” She handed her an SD card, the kind someone would put into a camera. “Are you able to pull anything off of it?”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” Felicity said, slipping the card into a slot in her computer. She was able to pull dozens of photos off of it, all of which were surveillance pictures of Malcolm Merlyn in Starling. Before Nyssa could say ‘I told you so’, Laurel called to tell Oliver the information Sara asked her father about.

Oliver, Digg, Roy and Nyssa headed to the location Laurel managed to get. Felicity stayed behind, trying to find any other information hidden in the photos and decipher some of the other notes Sara made. The group returned unsuccessful sometime later. Malcolm had been at the dojo they’d traveled to, but he managed to escape.

Nyssa stormed off, unhappy by this turn of events. Roy went to keep an eye on Thea, at Oliver’s request. Felicity used a program to track Malcolm down to a hideout, and Oliver and John went there to confront the man. The place was empty, Malcolm knew they were going there, but he did leave a note behind, telling Oliver to meet him in public, without a mask.

Oliver went, alone as requested. Their conversation was rather short. Ra’s al Ghul put a bounty on his head. He claimed he came back for Thea, who he’d saved during the siege but hadn’t seen her since. As he was leaving, he swore on Thea’s life that he didn’t kill Sara.

Returning to the lair, Nyssa was already there, fuming that Merlyn was still alive. Oliver explained that Malcolm swore he didn’t kill Sara and just wanted to see his daughter. Having admitted that Thea was Malcolm’s child, Nyssa stormed off in a rage. Laurel followed after her.

“What did he say exactly?” Felicity wondered.

“He said he didn’t kill Sara.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.”

“What?”

“He might not have killed Sara, but what he said doesn’t mean he didn’t arrange it. I told you someone around my height fired those arrows, and it isn’t hard finding an assassin on the internet if you know where to look.” She said. “I’m not saying he did it, I’m just saying he could’ve paid someone to do it.”

Roy stumbled downstairs and told them that Nyssa had attacked him and Thea, and when he came to, Thea was gone. Believing Nyssa would hurt Thea in order to force Merlyn out of hiding, they rushed off to find Thea. Felicity called Donna on the way, asking her for help.

They were able to find Thea quickly, and arrived before Malcolm did. Oliver cut Thea down from where she was hanging, while Nyssa fought Felicity. “I know you’re angry and in pain, but the girl doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“She does. Her father refuses to pay for his sins, so she will pay in his stead.” Nyssa argued.

Thea ran off once she was freed and Malcolm came into the building shortly thereafter, firing an arrow at Nyssa. They began to spar but he quickly overpowered Nyssa and shouted that he didn’t kill Sara, and thought Ra’s had done it, before knocking her out. He turned to Oliver, who was aiming an arrow at him, rolled his eyes and then focused on Donna and Felicity.

“You know, her father told me about you. I won’t lie, I thought the Amazons were a myth.” He remarked. “Even more of a myth than the League.”

“As you can see, we’re quite real.” Donna responded.

“Anyways, I didn’t kill Sara. I hope this unpleasantness is over with.” He turned to go. Felicity rushed toward him and pinned him to the wall with one hand behind his back.

“You say you didn’t kill her. You haven’t proven it.”

“I wasn’t aware I need to. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.”

“Does this look like a courtroom to you?” She asked as she twisted his arm further. “The Arrow might believe you, but I don’t. If I find out you had anything to do with Sara’s death, you and I are gonna have a very unpleasant conversation. You might not come out of it whole or alive. Or maybe I’ll hand you over to Ra’s.” She released him and he stormed off.

Nyssa woke up, punched Oliver for not letting her kill Malcolm and swore vengeance. Oliver told her that no one would make a move against Malcolm while he was in Starling. She left for Nanda Parbat. There were things her father needed to be informed of.

* * *

 

**Themiscyra**

Diana landed on Themiscyra and made her way to the palace. While she knew all of the Amazons would want to know about Sara’s death, she didn’t feel right not telling her mother or aunt about it first. Or maybe she was just trying to buy some time.

She walked into the palace and asked one of the Amazons she passed where her mother and the general were. They were meeting with a handful of advisors to discuss the Amazons possibly returning to man’s world, or in the very least, opening communications with them. Diana entered the room and they all greeted her.

“Could I speak with both of you alone?” She asked after returning the greetings. “It’s rather urgent.”

Hippolyta and Antiope looked at one another, before turning their attention back to Diana. “Our meeting has already run longer than we intended. We will reconvene next week to discuss further.” The Queen said. The advisors filed out. “What do you need to speak with us about?”

“It’s about Sara.” Diana said before sighing. “I received a call from Felicity, and she sounded unlike her usual, positive self. I traveled to Starling to see why. Sara’s dead. She was murdered. Struck through the heart with an arrow.”

“How?”

“By whom?”

“I don’t know. Felicity and her friends think they may have a lead, an old enemy of theirs. Aunt Donna believes Sara’s death may be because of her membership in the League of Assassins.”

“Sara was involved in the League of Assassins?”

When Donna brought Felicity to the island, she told her sisters about Ra’s and the League. They wanted to know what she’d done and where she’d gone after leaving the island and soon, the whole story came out.

“Yes, and Donna believes her target, Malcolm Merlyn, killed her.” Diana explained. “I came here to tell you about her death. It didn’t seem right to keep the truth from either of you or the other friends she made while staying here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About yesterday's news: I have no idea what to say, because the news hasn't fully processed in my brain yet.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa speaks with her father and Oliver and Felicity argue about Malcolm.

After stopping Nyssa from killing Malcolm, the team returned to the foundry. Felicity was already there, taking out her frustration on one of the training dummies. She was angry and figured that destroying the dummy was better than hitting the streets to try and work off her anger.

“What the hell was that?” Oliver asked as soon as they entered the lair.

“What the hell was what?”

“The threats you made towards Malcolm. You said if he had anything to do with Sara’s death, you’re gonna kill him or hand him over to the League.” He clarified. “Where did that come from?”

“It’s Malcolm Merlyn. He killed 503 people, including Tommy. He sank the Gambit to silence your father. And those are only the horrible things he’s done that we know about, who knows how many terrible things he’s done, people he’s killed that we don’t know about. He needs to be held accountable.” She said. “And he probably killed Sara, or had her killed. What part of my reaction seems strange to you?”

“The part where you wanna kill him.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to kill him. I said I would. I don’t like killing, I don’t wanna kill anyone, but he’s way past any point of redemption or finding a better way.” She argued. “I’m telling you right now, if he didn’t kill Sara, he at least had something to do with it.”

“And if he did, we’ll deal with it.” He assured her.

* * *

 

**Nanda Parbat**

Nyssa traveled back to Nanda Parbat following her failed attempt to kill Malcolm. She found her father soaking in the Lazarus Pit and told him what had happened during her visit to Starling. She revealed that Malcolm Merlyn was alive, that Sara had been killed and relayed Oliver’s threat that no one would harm Merlyn while he resided in Starling.

“If that is true, then Oliver Queen courts war with us.” Ra’s said, having stepped out of the Pit and dressed.

“There is something else you should know. Oliver Queen is not the only warrior residing in Starling City. Two women I fought alongside against Slade Wilson were there. One called herself Felicity of Themiscyra, I do not know the other woman’s name. Felicity has become one of the city’s protectors.”

“Amazons in Starling City. And what were their reactions to news of Sara’s death?” Ra’s began rubbing his chest where Donna had punched him so many years ago.

“Felicity was angry. She objected to the way I chose to draw Merlyn out of hiding, using someone he cared for, but she was also the only person who voiced doubt at Merlyn’s claim that he didn’t kill her.”

“He claims he didn’t kill Sara.” Ra’s repeated.

“Yes, although he provided no proof to clear his name. And, as Felicity pointed out, its possible he didn’t fire the arrows, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for her death.”

“She may be correct. It does not matter. We will exact justice against Merlyn for violating our code, regardless of Queen’s feelings on the matter.”

“And what of the Amazons?”

“I have encountered them before. I would not advise starting a war against them, but if the need arises, we will.”

* * *

 

**Themiscyra**

After Diana told Hippolyta and Antiope about Sara’s death, she headed to the training grounds to tell the others. She knew delaying telling them would only make things worse and she didn’t want that to happen. As she expected, the others had plenty of questions about Sara’s death and how it was being handled.

Diana was doing her best to answer them when one of the Amazons asked an unexpected question. “Are you certain that the Arrow is not involved?”

“Yes, I am. As is Felicity and Donna. Why do you think they’re mistaken?”

“I don’t think they’re mistaken, but she was shot with arrows. He’s the only known archer in the city. it’s not an unreasonable conclusion to come to.” the woman explained.

“He was with Felicity when Sara’s death occurred and I don’t believe he has it within him to kill a woman he once loved.” Diana said. “Sara had her own enemies, one of which is also an archer and he feared she might expose him. Felicity and Oliver did not have any proof when I left, but I’m sure they’re investigating.”

“When do we leave?” Another asked.

“What?”

“We’re going to bring Sara’s killer to justice, are we not? When do we leave?” She repeated.

 


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons come to Starling looking for answers.

**Themiscyra**

After a lot of debate, Diana managed to talk the entirety of Themiscyra’s population out of coming to Starling with her. She didn’t blame them for wanting to go with her and get justice for Sara, but having every Amazon show up would raise some eyebrows and certainly some red flags.

It was decided that Antiope, Hippolyta and two other Amazons would return to Starling with her. Everyone else was a little annoyed that they were being left behind, but she made a compelling argument about why it wasn’t a good idea.

The group of five boarded Diana’s invisible jet and flew back to Starling. Diana realized a little too late that maybe she should’ve called Felicity or found some other way of telling her she was coming back to town with company. 

* * *

 

**Nanda Parbat**

“You have encountered Amazons before?” Nyssa asked her father. “I believed they were a myth until meeting one.”

“And I’m sure that status is intentional on their part.” Ra’s said. “If there’s something you wish to ask, just ask it and stop dancing around the subject.”

“How did you encounter them? What happened? I wonder why you haven’t told me about this before now.”

“One travelled here years ago, about a century after I became the Demon Head. She was a wanderer, trying to see as much of the world as she could. She was quite the warrior. Her stay here lasted a few months.”

“You let her leave?”

Ra’s rubbed his chest again, in the same place. Nyssa almost considered it a nervous tic, but the Demon Head didn’t have those. “You have little experience dealing with Amazons, but trust me when I say it would have been impossible to force her to stay.”

* * *

 

**Starling**

After Felicity explained to Oliver that she didn’t want to kill Malcolm, but was willing to if that was her only option, things calmed down somewhat in the bunker. Part of the issue was that Oliver couldn’t reconcile Felicity, his girlfriend who wouldn’t kill bugs, with the Felicity who’d said she wanted Malcolm to suffer. He supposed from her perspective it made sense. Her people were created to protect innocents and Malcolm had caused a lot of innocent people to die. He didn’t like thinking too hard on it though.

“It’s getting late, we should go home.” He told her.

“Sounds good to me.” She agreed. “Unless this is an excuse for us to just go home and argue about Malcolm and Nyssa again.”

“He swears he had nothing to do with Sara’s death.”

“He can swear all he wants. He hasn’t done anything to make me believe it. And part of me believes that if Thea wasn’t in this equation, you’d say the same thing.” She said.

“Thea isn’t the reason I stopped Nyssa.”

“On the surface, maybe not. But you’re her older brother and you wanna protect her, which includes protecting her from losing him.” She pointed out. “Let’s stop talking about Malcolm, otherwise I’m gonna scream.”

“Fair enough.”

“Good, because someone promised me brownies this morning, and that person, whoever he or she may be, hasn’t fulfilled that promise.” She teased. “Which isn’t very nice.”

“I think sometimes you only like me for my cooking skills.”

“Your cooking skills. And your abs.” She joked. “They’re equally important.”

They drove him, and as promised, Oliver made Felicity Raisa’s famous homemade brownies. She ate several before realizing what time it was and deciding to go to bed. Oliver cleaned up the mess and came to bed shortly after.

 

The next morning, Felicity woke up when she heard movement in her house. Someone was there. Several someones by the sound of it. She looked over to Oliver, who was wide awake, having been woken up by the same noises. Felicity jumped out of bed and headed towards the door.

“What are you doing?” He whispered.

“Seeing who’s here.”

“You don’t know how many of them there are. It could be dangerous.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I have the big, bad Arrow here to watch my back.” She responded before stepping into the hallway.

Six heads turned towards Felicity. Donna, Diana, Hippolyta, Antiope and two other Amazons were sitting in her living room. They were just sitting there, drinking coffee and didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

“We didn’t mean to wake you.” Diana said.

“No, I normally wake up around now anyways.” She said. “What- what are you all doing here?” She wasn’t upset to see her family, but it would’ve been nice if they’d called first.

“We’re here to help you solve Sara’s murder and bring her killer to justice.” One of the others answered.

“Everyone on Themiscyra wanted to come and assist you, but we decided that large of a group was unnecessary.” Hippolyta explained. “Now, let’s discuss what you-“

“Felicity, is everything-?” Oliver asked from behind her. He couldn’t tell if the visitors were good or bad based on the conversation he was overhearing and needed to know more. He stepped out into the hallway, still shirtless. “Oh, we have company.”

“Yeah. We- I need coffee.” She said as she maneuvered around the others to get into her kitchen.

Oliver turned to go get a shirt when Antiope spoke. “What happened to you? How did you get those scars?”

“I was stranded on a deserted island, and it wasn’t as nice as Themiscyra.” He said before going to put a shirt on.

He heard one of the other Amazons ask Felicity why Oliver was in her bedroom and heard Donna start chuckling as Felicity got flustered at the question. He also heard the Amazonian general ask her the same question about his scars.

Felicity’s response was that it wasn’t her story to tell. By the time he stepped back out into the living room, Felicity had her coffee and was about to explain what she’d learned regarding Sara’s death.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity tells the Amazons the full story about Sara.

Felicity sat down on her couch and struggled to figure out how to start explaining what happened to Sara. She realized that in order to explain Sara’s death and her theory, she needed to tell them about the League, which meant talking about how she joined the League, which meant the story started with the Queen’s Gambit sinking. It seemed like everything traced back to that.

“Sara- I’m not sure how to say this.” Felicity started to say. “She, um, so Oliver and Sara were stranded on an island off the coast of China after the boat they were on sank. Something happened where they got separated. Oliver thought she’d been blown up and she thought Oliver had drowned.”

“But neither of them perished. Why not reunite after this ‘something’ was over?” Antiope asked.

“Because someone else found Sara first.” Oliver said. “She was found by Nyssa, who helped us fight Slade. Nyssa was part of an ancient sect of warriors called the League of Assassins. She took Sara to their base and she eventually joined the order. I imagine Donna’s told some of you about them already.”

“I told them a little bit.” Donna said. She didn’t like talking about her experience with the League or with Ra’s.

“Sara decided she wanted to come home and see her family, so she left the League. She rejoined the group when we needed allies to fight against Slade. The only way the leader would lend us any help was if she joined the League again.”

“What type of person gives aid with conditions attached?” One of the Amazons asked.

“A horrible person. Ra’s is a monster. He’s a terrible human being.” Felicity said. “But she agreed, and after the battle was over, she kept her word. He sent her out on a mission. There was another member of the League, his name is Malcolm Merlyn. He broke their code and killed over 500 innocent people. By their laws or something, the punishment for breaking their code was death. They thought he was dead, but then they heard a rumor that he was alive. Sara was sent to see if those rumors were true. They were. They are. He’s alive and he’s in this city.”

“So, he killed Sara when she got too close to finding him.”

“He swears he didn’t kill her. I don’t believe him, but there’s some evidence that indicates he didn’t kill her. And while he might not’ve been the one who fired the arrows that killed her, I’ve got a feeling that he’s still responsible.”

“Meaning what?”

“Maybe he didn’t shoot her, but he could’ve orchestrated her death. Gotten someone else to kill Sara for him. I’m telling you, I can’t explain it, but I know he had something to do with her death.”

“What evidence?” Hippolyta asked. “You said there was evidence that indicated he didn’t kill her, what is the evidence?”

“Sara’s wounds, for one. The way the arrows entered her body, the archer had to be around her height. She’s my height and Merlyn’s around Oliver’s height. Also, her lack of defensive wounds.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sara was shot in the chest from only a few feet away. She’d seen her attacker. If it had been Merlyn or someone she knew was a threat, I doubt she would’ve let them get that close. They would’ve fought, she would’ve defended herself. That didn’t happen, so she didn’t know the person was a threat right away. Which gives credit to my ‘he didn’t kill her but he had her killed’ theory.”

“Why use arrows then?”

“To frame Oliver. To send a message to the League. I don’t know. Why did he think the healthy reaction to his wife being killed in a mugging was to create a fake earthquake and kill 500 people?”

“Is this Merlyn still in the city?”

“Probably. Nyssa wanted to avenge Sara by killing Malcolm, but Oliver stopped her. He vowed the League couldn’t touch him while he was in Starling, so leaving town would mean he was fair game.” Felicity explained.

“You stopped her lover from killing him?” Diana asked.

“We don’t have any definitive proof that he’s responsible.” He justified. “I couldn’t just let her kill an innocent man.” Felicity snorted. Malcolm Merlyn was the furthest thing from innocent.

“A noble gesture, but a foolish one I believe.” Hippolyta said. “As we told Felicity, we’ve come to solve the mystery of what happened to Sara and bring her killer to justice. Now that we know what happened, we can move forward with a better understanding.” They stood to leave.

“Wait, you guys can’t walk around like that.” Felicity said.

“Why not?”

“You’re wearing Grecian armor.”

“And?” They were Amazons. They were warriors. Why wouldn’t they be dressed like warriors?

“It’s kinda hard to miss and you need to blend in.” she said. “Diana? Mom? You wanna chime in here?”

“Drawing too much attention right now isn’t a good thing.” Donna conceded.

“I’ve found its easier to investigate when you blend in.” Diana agreed.

“See?” Felicity said. “I can lend you some of my clothes. I’ll be right back.” She went into her bedroom and came back with an armful of pants and shirts. Donna also brought out some of her clothes for them to try.

It was strange seeing the Amazons dressed like normal people, but they definitely looked less out-of-place now than they would’ve. They departed soon after to do their own searching, leaving Felicity, Oliver, Donna and Diana standing in the house.

“I’m sorry we showed up unannounced.” Diana said.

“When you said you were going home to tell them about Sara, I didn’t expect you to bring people back with you.”

“I didn’t intend to, but they insisted. I was lucky I was able to talk the entire island out of coming here.”


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antiope finds a new student, Nyssa plots and Oliver gets suspicious.

When the Amazons split up to search the city for clues, Antiope was walking down a moderately busy street when she heard the sounds of fighting. She crept over to the building it was coming from, unsure of what situation she might be walking into. She entered the building and her concern evaporated. No one inside seemed distressed or panicked. In fact, it looked like she’d stumbled into a training facility of some kind.

She walked back outside and read the sign over the door. Wildcat’s Boxing Gym. She wasn’t entirely sure what ‘boxing’ was, but clearly it was some form of fighting. She went back inside to observe more. A handful of people were scattered throughout the room. Two men were in the ring facing off while the others were off to the side. hitting bags hanging from ceiling.

Her curiosity satisfied, Antiope was about to leave when she saw a woman towards the far end of the room, hitting one of the bags. She was doing okay, but Antiope could tell her form wasn’t as strong as it could be.

Laurel was off in her own world. Sara was dead. They had no idea who killed her or why and she was starting to get frustrated. So, the attorney did the only thing she could. She took all of her frustrations out on the bag in from of her.

“Your feet are too close together.” A female voice said from behind her. Laurel turned around and saw a woman who looked to be in her forties standing there.

“What?”

“Your stance. Your feet are too close together. If you want your hits to be as strong as possible, you need to plant your feet. Without a strong foundation, your hits will be weak.” Antiope told her. She remembered Laurel somewhat from the fight against Slade. “May I?” Laurel nodded, so the general walked over next to her and showed her how she should be standing. She corrected her position as needed. “Now try it.”

Laurel swung and this time, her hit moved the bag more than her previous ones. “Standing like this made that much of a difference?”

“Yes. People often forget that powerful hits are the result of using your entire body, not just your arms.”

“You seem to know a lot about this stuff. I don’t suppose you’re willing to train me?” There was something about this woman that seemed familiar to her.

“That depends. What kind of training are you seeking?”

 

While the Amazons went into the city to search for clues about Sara’s death, and Felicity went to a meeting for a new project, Oliver was left to his own devices. He realized that he hadn’t really had a chance to see Thea since she came back, and wanted to fix that. He asked her if they could meet for lunch, which she agreed to.

They met at Table Salt, and Oliver tried to apologize for his part in the distance between them. He could tell that almost none of what he was saying was getting through and dropped it quickly. He listened as Thea told him about her trip abroad and all of the places she’d visited. Something about her story made him feel uneasy. He couldn’t quite explain it, but he had the feeling she wasn’t telling him anything.

Thea had just asked Oliver about what happened in Starling while she was gone when a woman three tables over slapped the table harshly. It rattled the silverware and several heads turned towards the commotion. Oliver kept his eyes on Thea and watched as she turned the steak knife in her hands so that she could use it as a weapon as needed. Her eyes darted around like she was looking for a threat. The same way Oliver often did. The upset customer hissed something at her companion before throwing a drink in his face and storming out of the room.

The tension melted out of the restaurant as soon as she left, and Thea quickly schooled her expression into a more relaxed, happy one. Her mask was back on. Oliver tried to ignore the feeling in his gut for the rest of lunch. Thea said she had a meeting to go to about reopening Verdant and left. Oliver watched her go and wondered what his sister was keeping from him.

 

Felicity returned to her house after her meeting. Ray was still trying to convince her to work for Palmer Tech, but, as always, she thanked him for the offer and declined. She entered the house to find Oliver sitting on her couch, staring into space.

It reminded her of when she found Oliver sitting in the foundry next to Sara’s body, looking at nothing.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Thea.”

“Is she okay? What happened? Why didn’t you call me?”

“What-? No, nothing happened, its just- I’ve got this feeling. I think she might’ve lied to me about what happened when she left Starling.” He said.

* * *

 

**Nanda Parbat**

“This is not up for debate.” Ra’s said, turning his back to Nyssa.

“I’m not trying to debate. I just want to understand.” She argued. “We know Merlyn is alive and we know where he is. Why not attack and finish this once and for all?”

“Oliver Queen has sworn to protect Merlyn at any cost.”

“And since when do Oliver Queen’s words deter you? He is a capable warrior, but his vow isn’t the line in the sand he thinks it is.”

“The League will make no move on Starling City.” Ra’s repeated. “Nor will you travel there on a one-woman quest to kill him and avenge Sara Lance.”

“Will you at least tell me why we aren’t acting on the information Sara died to obtain?”

“Because it is the will of Ra’s al Ghul.”


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity starts looking for some answers about Thea, Donna has a confrontation, and Felicity finds something.

“I think Thea might’ve lied to me about what happened after she left Starling.” Oliver admitted to Felicity.

“What makes you say that? I’m not saying I don’t believe you, its just that….I wanna know why you think that.”

“Thea and I met for lunch. It was going well, until this woman started a fight in the restaurant. Thea’s face when the woman banged on the table. I’ve seen that expression before. On my own face. Something happened to her while she was gone.”

“Ok, so how are we gonna figure what that ‘something’ is?” Felicity asked him.

“Really? Just like that?”

“I disappeared for a month and came back claiming to be part of a race of warrior women. If I can drop something like that you and you don’t even blink, I can back your play about Thea.” Felicity said with the shrug. “What do you wanna do about Thea?”

“Can you- I wanted to give Thea her space when she left, which is why I never asked you to track her phone, but-“

“You wanna find out where she’s been for the last five months.” She finished. “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” She teased.

“I’m cute? No one’s called me that since I was like 11.”

“Then not enough people have seen you get really excited about trying out new recipes.” Felicity said. “I’ll start some searches. Then, we’ll go to the foundry and spar.”

“Is it fair for us to spar? I mean, you have super strength.” He asked.

“And you look sexy when you’re all growly and intense.” She countered. “Unless you wanna work out in some other way?” She suggested.

“The searches are already running?” Oliver asked and she nodded. “Then, I think we should go with your second idea.”

 

Felicity and Oliver were late getting to the foundry that night. They were only a little sorry that they were late because they lost track of time having sex. 

“Did you find any new information?” Felicity asked when they arrived to the lair and found a few Amazons already there.

“Unfortunately no. We weren’t able to find out any new information.” Diana answered. “What about you?”

“Nothing concrete.” She said. “Where’s Antiope? And my mom?”

“I’m not sure where our aunt is, but your mother said something about keeping an eye on your suspect.” Donna had called Antiope in the late afternoon. She told her sister she needed a favor. The general agreed quickly once she heard what her sister was asking. Donna had a suspicion about what was going to happen soon, and she wanted Starling to have a good chance at surviving, which meant she needed to twist things in her favor.

“Mom went to find Malcolm?”

“I think she wants to ensure that he doesn’t leave town without us knowing. He is our only lead to finding out what happened to Sara.”

“You guys should go see what you can find out now.” Felicity suggested. “Starling at night is very different than during the day. You might find out something we didn’t already know.”

 

Despite what Nyssa believed, Ra’s wasn’t simply ignoring Malcolm’s presence in Starling. He refused to send the League of Assassins to Starling City. His claim didn’t mean that he wouldn’t send individual assassins to the city to observe Malcolm and perhaps chase him out of town.

One assassin was staked out across the street of Malcolm’s hideout. He wouldn’t be surprised if Merlyn was already aware of his presence. He’d once been a Horsemen of Ra’s al Ghul, one of the best warriors in the League. He could probably sense he was being watched. Still, the knowledge that he was being watched would unnerve him. it had only been a few days, and they’d already found exactly where he was.

What the assassin didn’t expect when he took this assignment was that he wouldn’t be the only person watching Malcolm Merlyn. As soon as he’d gotten himself set up across the street from the hideout, he saw a blonde figure on a nearby rooftop. He made a mental note to inform the Demon Head of this when he sent his first report. He wrote the woman off and returned his attention to Malcolm.

“Why am I not surprised he sent someone here instead of coming himself?” A voice said from behind him after several minutes. He turned to see the blonde woman he noticed earlier.

“I’m unsure what you’re-“

“You’re an assassin. Ra’s al Ghul sent you here.” Donna said, cutting him off. “Tell him to come here himself. Unless, of course, he’s scared.”

“Scared of what? Of you?” The man asked sarcastically.

“Of facing me, yes. Go to Nanda Parbat, tell him Donna says hi. Tell him if the League wants Malcolm Merlyn, he can come here himself and get him.” She told the assassin.

“I will not aband-“

“You have two choices here.” Antiope said as she put her hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezed it. “You can leave this place, or we can force you to go. I’d choose wisely if I were you.”

 

While Donna and Antiope were dealing with the assassin and the other Amazons were out patrolling, Felicity was retracing Thea’s steps after the Siege. The metadata showed that, for the most part, Thea had been where she told Oliver she was. The problem was that her online behavior didn’t make sense. Felicity didn’t know of any millennial, let alone a millennial with boatloads of money, who’d go to Rome and not post pictures on social media. It was suspicious to say the least.

After learning where Thea had gone, Felicity settled in to trying to work out what Thea had been doing. She went across the globe several times, but what exactly was she doing. Felicity started hacking into Thea’s phone to see what was on there when she found something that shocked her.

“Arrow, I need you to come back here.” Felicity said over the comms.

“What’s wrong?”

“You- I need you to come back here.”

How was she going to tell Oliver this?


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ra's makes a decision about Starling and Felicity shows Oliver what she found.

**Starling**

At Felicity’s insistence, Oliver immediately returned to the foundry from patrol. He couldn’t read her tone of voice from over the comms, but he knew whatever she needed to tell hm wasn’t good.

When he got back to the foundry, she was pacing in front of her computer. He put his bow down with a little more force than was necessary so that he wouldn’t startle her when he started to speak. He knew from experience that startling someone with enhanced strength wasn’t the best idea.

“You found something?”

“Yeah, it’s about Thea.” She admitted. “I kinda- I retraced her steps between when we stopped Slade and when you found her in Corto Maltese. She didn’t go on her journey of self-discovery alone.”

Oliver wasn’t angry when he heard that. He wasn’t even that surprised. All Felicity did was confirm something he didn’t want to admit to himself for days, if not weeks. “It was Malcolm, wasn’t it? She went with him. He’s the one who trained her.”

“It looks like it.” She said apologetically. She typed something into one of her computers and dozens of images and messages appeared on the screen. “People lie, metadata doesn’t. You can delete files all you want, it’s still possible to recover them.”

“It’s a good thing she’s away from him now.”

“She’s not. I went through her recent activity, since she came back to Starling mostly. The phone line might not be under Malcolm’s name, but she’s still in contact with him. They talk almost every day.”

“Why would she-?” Oliver didn’t understand. Why would Thea go with Malcolm? He was a monster, he killed Tommy, he killed hundreds for people. Did she just forget that?

“I’m not Thea, so I can’t really answer, but think about the position she was in after the Siege. She and Roy were broken up. Her mother was dead. She was angry at you and your mother for keeping the truth from her. She was in a very vulnerable place. She was vulnerable, and Malcolm is very manipulative. Those two factors together don’t make a great combination.” Felicity reasoned. “That isn’t why I made you come back here. There’s something you need to see.”

“What?” He couldn’t imagine something worse than what she’d just told him.

Felicity pressed play on a video that was open on the other monitor. He saw Sara and Laurel talking, although there wasn’t any sound. Laurel walked away and Sara put her mask back on. She was about to leap off of the building, when another figure came into the frame. The person must’ve called out to her, because she turned around. Seconds later, three arrows were fired into her chest. She fell backwards off of the building. The archer turned, and Oliver could clearly see Thea’s face as she walked away from the scene. Thea had killed Sara.

“I need to- I should go, I-.” He needed to talk to Thea. He needed to confront Malcolm. Oliver had sworn not to kill, but he was willing to break that rule in this case.

“I don’t think you should go anywhere right now.”

“I- that can’t be real. Thea wouldn’t- why would she kill Sara?”

“I don’t think she knows that she did. As much as I hate to admit it, there are ways she could be convinced to kill someone and then be made to forget.” Felicity said slowly. Donna had told her a few stories from her travels. The League had a way of brainwashing people. There were plants that could make someone susceptible to suggestion. She could think of plenty of ways this could’ve happened.

“You think Malcolm, what, hypnotized Thea into killing Sara or something?”

“Drugging Thea wouldn’t be the worst thing he’s ever done. I think he needed Sara out of the way, I think he was desperate for a way out and having Thea kill Sara meant he had leverage over you.”

“That’s exactly why I’m gonna find him and kill him.” he said picking up his bow. He was so wrapped up what Felicity had shown him, he’d forgotten that Felicity had faster reflexes than he did. It wasn’t until the tranquilizer arrow started to take effect that he realized she’d used it on him.

“I’m sorry, Oliver, but I don’t think that’s the best idea.” She said as he started to pass out.

As Oliver passed out, the Amazons returned. “What happened?” Diana asked.

“I found out what happened to Sara.”

* * *

 

**Nanda Parbat**

The assassin Donna and Antiope had confronted left his post outside Malcolm’s hideout and made a phone call to Nanda Parbat. The League was very anti-technology, but they did start making great use of disposable cell phones in the last few years.

“You were instructed not to break radio silence unless you had urgent news. You have only been in Starling City for sixteen hours. Were my instructions not clear?” Ra’s asked.

“They were, my liege. But the circumstances-.”

“What circumstances? Has he left the city? Has he been killed by another?”

“No. I was confronted by a woman who seemed to know I was an assassin and you had sent me to observe Al Saher.” He answered. “She said that if we wanted to abscond with Al Saher, that you should come to Starling City yourself to get him. Unless you were afraid to face her.”

“This woman, did she give you a name?”

“She said her name was Donna, and to tell you she says ‘hi’.” The assassin reluctantly admitted.

The Demon Head had a feeling the Amazon his follower had run into was Donna, but now he had confirmation. He gave the assassin orders to continue observing Malcolm, and not engage Donna or any Amazon, before hanging up.

“Tell Sarab and Nyssa to pull a team together. I believe a visit to Starling City is long overdue.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a head's up, there won't be a chapter next week due to boring, real life stuff.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The League mobilizes, Felicity reveals what happened to Sara and Oliver comes to a conclusion.

**Nanda Parbat**

“Tell Sarab and Nyssa to pull a team together. I believe a visit to Starling City is long overdue.” Ra’s said. The assassins rushed to follow his orders.

Sarab arrived promptly and waited patiently for the Demon Head to give him instructions or an explanation. Nyssa stormed into the room sometime later, looking equally happy and pissed off.

“We are going to Starling?”

“Yes, but to apprehend Al Saher, not to avenge your beloved.”

“I thought you didn’t want to enrage the Amazons. What changed your mind?”

“I wanted to act covertly. That is no longer an option, as they know of our presence in Starling City.” He admitted. “Choose a few of our number to accompany us to the city.”

“You’re coming with us?” She asked in surprise.

“Yes. One of the Amazons and I have something of a history.”

* * *

 

**Starling**

Malcolm Merlyn wasn’t an idiot. He hadn’t somewhat succeeded with the Undertaking or become the CEO of a billion-dollar corporation by sheer luck or wishful thinking. He also hadn’t kept one step ahead of the League by chance. He was aware that someone had been following him all day. He spotted the assassin observing him from his hideout. He knew the League was watching him.

He was surprised, however, when two women managed to run his pursuer off. He didn’t see much of what had happened. He was barely able to figure out that the pair were women from how far away they were, but he knew two things: the women had surprised the assassin and they forced him to flee. It was rare for someone to get the drop on a League assassin as they did. it was even more rare for someone to force one of Ra’s al Ghul’s followers to abandon their assignment, but the pair managed to do that as well. They chased the assassin off and then vanished. Who were these women? And could they become potential allies?

 

“What happened?” Diana asked when she, along with Roy, Digg and the other Amazons, entered the foundry to find Felicity watching Oliver pass out and not trying to help.

“I found out what happened to Sara.”

“And what you learned meant you had to knock Oliver out?”

“He was- the news was upsetting and I didn’t want him to do something he’d regret later.” Felicity admitted.

“What happened to Sara?” Hippolyta asked.

“We should wait for Mom and Antiope to get here. And you guys should sit down.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” John asked.

“Yeah, it is.”

Donna and Antiope arrived at the lair about twenty minutes later. They both raised their eyebrows at finding Oliver unconscious, but didn’t ask right away. They had a feeling that whatever Felicity needed to tell them was related to why Oliver wasn’t awake.

“We’re all here. What did you find?” Diana said.

“When Thea left Starling, she left with Malcolm. I found proof of it, after Oliver mentioned he thought she might’ve lied to him. Somehow Malcolm brainwashed or hypnotized or manipulated Thea into killing Sara.”

“What?” Everyone in the room shouted at once.

“Thea- she wouldn’t do that.” Roy insisted. “She liked Sara, there’s no way-“

“I know, which is why I’m positive Malcolm had something to do with it. The world’s a lot bigger than you think and there are ways-”

“How do you know it was Thea?” Digg cut in. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but-“

Felicity turned behind her and pressed play on the video she found. Everyone watched as an unknown archer shot three arrows into Sara’s chest and she fell off of the roof. The archer spun around and they could clearly see Thea’s face.

“I don’t know if he drugged her or what, but I know that was Malcolm’s doing and I don’t think she even remembers it.” Felicity said. “Oliver wanted to rush off and kill Malcolm, so I knocked him out.”

“Why would you stop him?”

“He wasn’t thinking straight, not that I would be either. Rushing in blind to kill Malcolm because he’s furious about him turning Thea into a killer and killing Sara could’ve gotten him killed. If he wakes up and wants to kill Malcolm, I won’t stop him, but Malcolm Merlyn isn’t easy to kill.”

“Why would Merlyn use Thea like this?” One of the Amazons asked. “I thought he was her father.”

“He is, but that doesn’t mean he cares about Thea. I don’t know why he did it, my theory is so that he’d have leverage over Oliver. If anyone, let alone Nyssa or her father, found out what happened to Sara, they’d come after Thea. Even if she wasn’t given a choice.”

“When he crawls out of whatever hole he’s hiding in, how much you wanna bet Malcolm tries to blackmail Oliver with that video?” Digg said.

“It’s a good thing we found where he’s hiding, then.” Antiope said.

“What?”

“I took your suspicions about his involvement seriously.” Donna admitted. “So, I spent most of the day following Malcolm. I followed him to a hideout a few blocks from here. I wasn’t the only one who was shadowing him.”

“Nyssa?”

“Not Nyssa, but a member of the League. We sent him off with a warning and a message.”

“What was the message?”

“If Ra’s wants Malcolm, he should come here and collect him himself.” Donna said. “I’m pretty sure they’re on their way here.”

“Ugh, what happened?” Oliver said as he woke up. “Did you- you knocked me out!”

“Yes, I’m sorry I had to do that.” Felicity said sincerely. “While you were asleep, I told everyone what happened, in detail.”

“It’s not Thea’s fault.” He said. He liked the Amazons well enough, but he didn’t want them to blame Thea for what happened or target her. He knew how important Sara was to many of them and was concerned about their reaction to the news.

“We know. And none of us blame her or bear her any ill will.” Hippolyta said. “All of our anger is directed at Merlyn, as it should be.”

“Oh, good.”

“We have a bigger problem. The League’s on their way here. They’re coming for Malcolm.”

“They can have him.” Oliver remarked. It wasn't his job to save or protect Malcolm from the consequences of his own actions. As he said that, his phone rang. It was Malcolm, asking to meet.


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver meets with Malcolm for the first time since learning what happened to Sara.

Oliver was rather terse on the phone with Malcolm when the other man said he wanted to meet. Most of his responses were closer to grunts than actual words, but the archer was so furious that he couldn’t actually form words at the moment. He agreed to meet him at a bar in an hour.

“Don’t let him know that you know.” Felicity advised him.

“What?”

“About Thea. If I’m right, and I usually am, this is a very long, drawn out, convoluted plan Malcolm hatched. He recorded Sara’s death so he could show it to you at the right time. And manipulate you” She explained. “If you tell him you know, it’ll throw him off and he might do something stupid or short-sighted. Which could be bad for Thea. I’m not saying pretend not to hate him, just don’t open the conversation by saying you know what really happened.”

“Speaking of Thea, we will keep her safe.” Diana said. “And away from Malcolm. I swear to it.”

She and another Amazon headed to Thea’s loft. The rest stayed to talk to Donna about the League and what to expect when they arrived.

 

Oliver arrived at the bar to find Malcolm already there. By the looks of things, he’d been there for a while. No doubt, he wanted to make sure Oliver couldn’t plan a surprise attack in the time between his phone call and their meeting.

“I’m here, what do you want?” Oliver said.

“So rude. Your mother taught you better than that.”

“Don’t talk about my mother.” He growled. “I’m not gonna pretend that I like you or that I’m happy to see you. What do you want?”

Malcolm let out a disappointed sigh and took a cell phone out of his pocket. He opened up an app and handed it over to Oliver. The archer watched Thea shoot Sara and fall off of the building where she died. When the video was over, he spoke. “There’s a plant called Voltura. It’s very effective in making someone under its influence susceptible to suggestion, and leaving them with no memory of the acts they commit. Now, you could kill me right here, but then that video’s gonna find its way to Ra’s al Ghul. And I’m sure you don’t want that.”

“Why show me this?”

“To give you an incentive. The League has come here, looking for me. I imagine soon, they’ll come to you with an ultimatum about handing over Sara’s killer. When that happens, you’re going to step forward.”

“You want me to die for you.”

“No, you’re gonna step forward and challenge Ra’s to a duel. Anyone who defeats Ra’s in a duel erases all blood debts owed to the League.”

“Including yours.”

“I knew you weren’t as dumb as you appeared.” Malcolm said, standing up. He turned to leave, but only managed to take a few steps before getting knocked out.

Oliver looked over to see Antiope standing there. “Is it normal for your enemies to tell you their entire plan while there is still a chance to stop them?”

“Kinda seems that way.” Oliver said. “Why’d you follow me?”

“I couldn’t very well just let him get away, could I? Felicity is working on disabling whatever failsafes and tricks he has on the footage to protect Thea.”

“Uh, is he okay?” The bartender came over and asked.

“Fine. He’s just a lightweight. We’ll get him home.” Oliver told her.

 

Oliver and Antiope took Malcolm to the foundry and bound him to a chair. It would be a few hours before he woke up, at least, but it was better to be safe. Oliver relieved Malcolm of his phone and gave it to Felicity to work with.

“Diana’s got an eye on Thea, but maybe-“

“Maybe what?” Oliver asked.

“Maybe its time to tell her the truth.” Felicity said. “She thinks- well, I don’t know what she thinks, but I can guess she doesn’t see Malcolm as the threat that he is. And keeping her in the dark hasn’t- I know you don’t want to tell her that you’re the Arrow, but look what not telling her as caused. Just- it’s something to think about.”

Oliver was about to respond when one of the Amazons called her over. They weren’t sure that rope would be enough to hold him when he woke up. Felicity was the only one of them who’d seen him in action, so only she knew what would and wouldn’t work to hold him.

“That’s not gonna be enough.” She told them. “Rope, chains, shackles, he probably knows how to escape those.” She paused. “I can only think of one thing that could hold him, the lasso.”

“What lasso?” Oliver asked.

“The Lasso of Hestia. You’ve seen Diana use it. Since it was blessed by Hestia, its impossibly strong. And it compels anyone it’s used on to tell the truth.”

“He already told me what his plan was.”

“You’re assuming he only has one master plan.” She countered. “I’ll get the lasso from Diana. Think about what I said.” She said before departing.

Felicity returned half an hour later with the Lasso of Truth. They used it to bind Malcolm, who was still unconscious, more securely to the chair. Oliver suggested hiding him in a storage closet or something, because he’d decided Felicity might be right and was about to call Thea to tell her everything.

An alert went off on Felicity’s computer. She turned to check it out before turning back to her boyfriend. “I’m very glad that you had this breakthrough, and we’ll talk about it later, but now really isn’t a good time to tell Thea.”

“Why not?”

“One of my programs picked up some League of Assassins movement. They might already be here.”


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver meet Ra's for the first time, and the Amazons have some questions for Malcolm.

“One of my programs picked up some League of Assassins movement. They might already be here.” Felicity told Oliver. The others who were milling around the foundry all froze.

“Let’s go then.” Roy said. He didn’t hate Malcolm as much as some of the other people in this room, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want this to be over. Malcolm killed Sara and could’ve gotten Thea killed. He wished he could get his Mirakuru strength back for just a few hours right now.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Donna said. “We need to- perhaps going in at full strength, with all our guns blazing, isnt the best idea. We don’t know how many there are or even why they’re here.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Digg asked.

“They could be here for Malcolm. They could be here for Sara’s killer. Or they could be here for another reason. Going in blind wouldn’t be very smart.” She stated.

“You sent an assassin back to Nanda Parbat with a message basically saying ‘you wanna him? come get him’.” Felicity reminded her mother. “It’s kinda obvious why they came.”

“Did you disable all of Merlyn’s failsafes to disperse the video of Sara’s death?” Antiope asked.

“Not quite. Program’s still working.”

“Then we need to stall while that happens. And we need Merlyn awake to answer our questions.” She said. “You and Donna confront the League. We will handle the rest.”

“I’m going with you.” Oliver said. He’d heard plenty of rumors about Ra’s al Ghul over the years. He knew Felicity and Donna could protect themselves, but that didn’t make the thought of her confronting him any easier to deal with.

“Mom and I will be fine. We can take care of ourselves.”

“I know that, but I still wanna go with you. You can protect yourself, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about you. Besides, I’m the one that declared the League couldn’t move against Malcolm while he was in town. If I don’t stand by that, it doesn’t look too good.” Oliver had no illusions about the League being afraid of him, they were the League of Assassins after all. He did think, however, that members of the League begrudgingly respected him to a degree. If Oliver didn’t back up his claims, he’d lose that respect.

Neither Felicity nor Donna had a response to that, so the trio suited up and headed to meet the League.

 

The League was hiding in an unoccupied building on the edge of town. Felicity almost made a comment about how the bad guys always have a thing for abandoned buildings and how cliché that was, but realized now wasn’t the time or place. They neared the building and an assassin stepped out of the shadows.

“The Demon Head awaits your presence.” He said. They moved forward. “You two may go. The Arrow will remain out here.”

“That’s not happening.” Felicity said. “He’s coming with us.”

“It is the will of-“

“Does it look like we care, at all, about the will of Ra’s al Ghul?” Donna cut him off. Having to deal with Ra’s again put Donna in a very weird, and angry, headspace. She didn’t like fighting, but his need to control everything had always pissed her off and she was done humoring it. “He comes with us. End of story.” She moved forward and he tried to stop her. “If you put one finger on any of us, you won’t be getting that arm back.”

The assassin, wisely, got out of her way. They continued into the building and soon found themselves facing Ra’s, Nyssa and Sarab. Oliver was confused to see his old friend Maseo, but he insisted that Maseo was dead and he was now Sarab.

“I thought I gave instructions for the Arrow to remain outside.”

“We ignored you.” Donna said bluntly.

“Ah, Princess Donna of Themiscyra. I presume the woman next to you is your daughter, Felicity of Themiscyra. You look well, your Highness. It has been quite some time since our paths last crossed.”

“It hasn’t been nearly long enough.” She said. “Why are you here?”

“You issued a challenge to me. If I wanted Malcolm Merlyn, I was to come and claim him myself, was I not? I know the Amazons do not issue challenges lightly and have come to collect him.” He answered.

“You’re here for him? You aren’t here looking for who killed Sara?” Felicity asked. She saw a brief flash of anger cross over Nyssa’s face when she asked the question.

“Justice for Taer al Safher is not a priority, your Highness.”

 

While Oliver, Felicity and Donna were gone, Malcolm finally woke up and Diana returned to the foundry to question him about Sara’s death and Thea. He looked around at the Amazons, dressed in their battle attire, and then spoke.

“So, you are real. I never really believed Ra’s when he claimed to have met one of you.” He said. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Why would you think we weren’t real?”

“You live on an island hidden from the world, not great for publicity. And the way he talked about the one he met, Donna, he got sappy. It was a little pathetic and- why can’t I stop talking?”

“The lasso of Hestia compels you to tell the truth.” Diana explained. “Let’s talk about Sara Lance.”

“Why? She’s dead.” he said. “Didn’t wanna involve Thea, but I had to motivate Oliver somehow. And I wasn’t going to challenge Ra’s.”

“Why does he need motivation at all? You were the one who incurred the League of Assassins wrath. Why is he trying to fix your mistakes?”

“Pfft. Only idiots and idealists try to ‘do the right thing’ and I’m not either. If I went to face him, I’d die, and I don’t plan on dying any time soon.” He said.

“So instead you chose to make your daughter a killer.”

“I killed my son, making my daughter kill someone is a step up from that.” He said. “Oliver should’ve kept a better eye on Thea if he didn’t want this to happen. If he loves his sister, he’ll prove it by dying for her.”

“This isn’t the first time you tried to kill him. Why do you want Oliver Queen dead?”

Malcolm struggled against the lasso. The Amazons could also see him trying to ignore the compulsion to answer the question. Unfortunately for him, everyone had their limits and the pain soon became too much.

“He survived the ‘accident’ that befell his family’s yacht. And because of it, the Undertaking, something I spent 20 years planning, failed. Robert was going to stop me, so I sabotaged his yacht. If only it had also killed Oliver.”


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons continue to question Malcolm, while Felicity calls Ra's out on his behavior.

“He survived the ‘accident’ that befell his family’s yacht. And because of it, the Undertaking, something I spent 20 years planning, failed. Robert Queen was going to stop me, so I sabotaged his yacht. If only it had also killed Oliver.”

“You caused the accident that left Oliver and Sara stranded on Lian Yu?” Diana asked.

“Yes, I should’ve just hired someone to assassinate Robert, but an accident attracts less attention, even if one of the richest men in the world dies.” Malcolm said.

“Let’s say that Oliver does challenge Ra’s al Ghul and he does prevail. What exactly is your plan?”

“If Oliver defeats him, my debt is cleared. If he kills the Demon Head, the League will be leaderless and I’ll take over. If he loses, I’ve taken steps to make sure he doesn’t die. By surviving, Ra’s will want to recruit him and make him the next Demon Head. I’ll offer to take the job after Ra’s is dead.”

“So, this never was about Thea or erasing your blood debt. It’s all a bid for more power.”

“Of course, it is. Power’s the only thing I care about.”

“I just have one more question, if you’ll indulge me. Why kill Sara to cause all of this?”

“She was hunting me for the League. I needed to get them off of my back. Sara is, was, important to Nyssa and I knew her death would be more impactful than a random assassin. And she needed to die here so that Oliver and Ra’s would be at odds over the city and Oliver’s confession would be more believable.” He said. “Where is Oliver anyway?”

Antiope hit Malcolm across the face, knocking him out again. “I don’t want to hear his voice any longer.”

 

“Justice for Taer al Safher is not a priority, your Highness.” Ra’s told Felicity.

“Wait, let me get this straight. Sara leaving, wanting to not kill people anymore was enough of a problem that you sent at least five people to bring her back, dead or alive, but her death isn’t important. What kinda backwards logic is that?”

“I do not need to explain my motivations to you.”

“Good, because I don’t wanna hear them, because they don’t make any sense.” She said. “I thought you were gonna wanna know who killed her, but nope. Your precious code is more important than people’s lives. What? Is murder only okay when you say so?”

“Felicity…” Donna warned.

“You know, Nyssa isn’t my favorite person but she’s the only one of them that seems to care that Sara is dead. it’s messed up.”

“We are not here to discuss Sara Lance, Princess.” The Demon Head repeated. “Malcolm Merlyn is in this city. Let us apprehend him or there will be consequences.”

“I don’t think so.” Felicity said, turning to leave. Donna and Oliver followed.

“I thought we were meeting with the League to hand him over.” the archer said.

“That was the plan, but now I’m not so sure.” She said. “We don’t know what his master plan is or why Thea’s involved. We shouldn’t hand him over until we know everything.”

 

They arrived back at the foundry to see the Amazons milling around and Merlyn unconscious. “He’s still knocked out?”

“He woke up. We questioned him. I grew tired of hearing his voice, so I rendered him unconscious again.” Antiope told them.

“What did he have to say?”

“He wants Oliver dead for stopping the Undertaking from being completely successful. That’s part of why he wants you to challenge Ra’s to a duel. Revenge. He admitted to sabotaging your father’s boat.” Diana said.

“I knew that already, I found out about it after- after the Undertaking.” Oliver said quietly. “My dad was going to expose Tempest and the Undertaking so Malcolm- did he say anything else?”

“Yes, this whole plot isn’t about his blood debt to the League, it’s about power. Whether you were to win or lose your duel against Ra’s, Malcolm plans to manipulate events so that he can take over the League of Assassins.”

“And Sara?”

“Her dying was more significant than if he’d just killed a random foot soldier. And he knew Nyssa would push her father to finding Sara’s killer.”

“He’s wrong about that. Ra’s doesn’t seem to care.”

“Maybe not, but Nyssa does and the longer it goes unsolved, the angrier she will be, which will force him to act.” Oliver said.

“So, he’s just playing Oliver against Ra’s to see who wins and then taking over the army of assassins. That’s comforting.”

“It won’t be that clear cut.” Donna said. “The League is centuries old, they have rules of ascension. He can say ‘I’m the Demon Head now’ all he wants, they need to believe it and follow him. Or he needs to earn the title.”

“I’ve more than earned it.” Malcolm said. He’d woken up right as Donna ended her sentence. “I’d just like to remind you, Oliver, that if I were to die, that video gets sent to the League.”

“Good thing you’re only tied up then.” Felicity needed to finish her work on destroying the video.

 

“You should warn them.” Diana told her cousin.

“Tell who what?”

“The League that they’re being manipulated. I doubt they’ll take kindly to that.”

“They won’t, but it doesn’t matter. Once I’m done with this,” she gestured to her computer where she was disabling Malcolm’s failsafes, “they’ll take him away and it’ll be fine.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Felicity saw something move on one of the monitors. Someone was sneaking around outside of the building. “I’ll be right back.” She left by the secret exit and found herself in the alleyway. “You know I know you’re there, right? No point trying to hide. Step out and tell me why you’re here.”

“My father’s threats shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

“I know. Are you here to spy for him or would you like answers about Sara? Because I don’t like spies, but you deserve to know what really happened.” She told Nyssa.


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity talks to Nyssa and Oliver comes clean about something.

Felicity saw something move on one of the monitors. Someone was sneaking around outside of the building. “I’ll be right back.” She left by the secret exit and found herself in the alleyway. “You know I know you’re there, right? No point trying to hide. Step out and tell me why you’re here.”

“My father’s threats shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

“I know. Are you here to spy for him or would you like answers about Sara? Because I don’t like spies, but you deserve to know what really happened.” She told Nyssa.

“You know what happened to her? How she died?” Nyssa asked.

“Yes, we do. You were right, Malcolm had something to do with Sara’s death. You were also wrong, he didn’t kill her.”

“How can I be both right and wrong?”

“Malcolm caused Sara’s death, he made her killer kill her, but he didn’t pull the trigger himself, so to speak.” Felicity explained. “He drugged some teenager and used the situation to have her kill Sara.”

“The teenager?”

“Does not remember doing it. Doesn’t even know Malcolm drugged her. She was a pawn that needs to be left out of this.”

“But she killed Sara.”

“No, Malcolm killed her. He just used someone else. Similar to how every person you’ve killed on behalf of your father counts as one of your father’s victims. You won’t learn who the girl is and its better than way. Her identity doesn’t matter.”

“If that’s the case, then hand Merlyn over to face justice and let’s be done with this.”

“No. Malcolm did what he did for a reason. He wanted to manipulate Oliver. He also wants to manipulate your father.” She said. “He’s playing us against each other.”

“My father is not so easily manipulated.”

“Really? He flew all of the way out here because my mom taunted him. Sounds pretty easy to me.” She countered. “You’re being played. Go back to your father and tell him that.”

“Isn’t warning me enough to make sure we don’t fall for his attempts?”

“It would be, but you clearly don’t believe me. And there’s no point in handing him over if your father’s gonna play right into his hands. Tell him what I told you and we’ll see what his response is.”

“Or maybe, you are the one being manipulative. Trying to buy more time for Malcolm.”

“Why would I wanna do that? He killed my best friend.” Felicity asked before walking away.

 

“You went to talk to Nyssa?” Oliver asked when she came back into the lair. “Why?”

“Ra’s needed to know he was being manipulated. Nyssa deserved to know what really happened to Sara. And Ra’s and Nyssa arguing will buy me enough time to get completely rid of that video.”

“You told her what happened to Sara?”

“I left Thea’s name out of it. I just said he manipulated a teenager into killing her and that she didn’t remember. Thea will be safe and even if he says something, it’ll be our word against his and no one in their right mind would believe Malcolm Merlyn.”

Oliver decided he needed to tell Thea his secret sooner rather than later and showing her he was the Arrow would make it more believable than if he told her. Diana suggested they move Malcolm to a different location, since Thea would be arriving soon and the foundry was the most likely place for the League to attack to try and kidnap Malcolm from their custody. The Amazons snuck him out of Verdant and Oliver called Thea, asking her to come to the club the next day.

“Well, I’m here.” Thea said throwing her arms out when she walked into Verdant and saw Oliver waiting.

“Thanks for coming. Follow me.” He said, leading over to the foundry door. “It’s better if I show you.” She asked him what was going on, but he didn’t answer. They walked down the stairs and the lights in the foundry turned on. She looked around at all of the equipment and weapons. “I know this isn’t gonna mean much, I’ve given you no reason to believe me, but I lied all of this time to protect you.”

Thea walked through the lair and stopped in front of the mannequin Oliver’s hood was on. “You’re- you’re him.”

“Yeah.”

“That night with the hoods and the woman in black. That was you. All those times I got so mad at you for being a flake or telling something that I knew had to be a lie, you were saving someone’s life.” She said in realization. “You know how many times I’ve wished that I could thank the Arrow for the things he’s done for this city?”

“Probably as many times as I’ve wished we could have this conversation.” He said.

“Why tell me? Why now?”

“You remember the woman who kidnapped you? She was after Malcolm, and she brought some friends with her.” He said. “And keeping you safe is a lot harder if I keep you in the dark. It didn’t work with the Undertaking, it didn’t work against Slade and I don’t want to fail a third time.”

“So, you’re only telling me because you don’t have a choice.”

“No, he’s telling you because he realizes you should have one.” Felicity said, coming down the stairs. “Malcolm is dangerous and because Oliver didn’t want you to know he was the Arrow, he made some choices that pushed you closer to Malcolm and now, things are a lot worse because of it.”

“Who are you again?” Thea asked. “And what do you mean he’s dangerous? He’d never hurt me.”

“My name’s Felicity. The city knows me as Titania. I helped your brother fight off the army of drugged-up psychos several months ago.” Felicity said. “And not only would Malcolm hurt you, he already has.”

“Really? I think I’d remember that.”

Felicity looked at Thea, saw that she believed what she was saying, and made a decision. “There’s something you need to see.”

“Felicity-.” Oliver began to argue.

“She doesn’t remember what he did, what he made her do. She needs to know.” The blonde said. “You know the woman in the black leather outfit who showed up last year? That was Sara Lance.”

“Sara’s the Canary?”

“She was. She’s was killed.” Felicity said, before pressing a key on her keyboard. A video began to play.


	44. Chapter 44

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea faces a hard truth and the League prepares for a fight.

 “My name’s Felicity. The city knows me as Titania. I helped your brother fight off the army of drugged-up psychos several months ago.” Felicity said. “And not only would Malcolm hurt you, he already has.”

“Really? I think I’d remember that.”

Felicity looked at Thea, saw that she believed what she was saying, and made a decision. “There’s something you need to see.”

“Felicity-.” Oliver began to argue.

“She doesn’t remember what he did, what he made her do. She needs to know.” The blonde said. “You know the woman in the black leather outfit who showed up last year? That was Sara Lance.”

“Sara’s the Canary?”

“She was. She’s was killed.” Felicity said, before pressing a key on her keyboard. A video began to play.

Thea watched Laurel leave the rooftop she’d been standing on with Sara. She watched the blonde start to walk away as well. The video didn’t have sound, so she didn’t know what made Sara turn back around, but her mind assumed someone must’ve called her name or something. A petite figure walked into the frame, but the camera could only see their back. She watched three arrows go flying into Sara’s chest before she fell off the building. Thea was about to ask what the point of showing her this was, when the figure, Sara’s killer, turned around. She saw her own face looking back at her.

“Felicity, maybe this wasn’t the right time to-.” Oliver began to say.

“I know you want to protect her, Oliver, but she needed to know. Keeping her in the dark about this only would’ve helped Malcolm achieve his stupid plan.”

“I- I killed Sara.” Thea finally said. “Why would I do that? She’s was my friend. She- it was Sara. Why would I do that?!” Her voice grew desperate towards the end of her question.

“You didn’t.” The blonde responded. “Malcolm, he- you were under the influence of something called Voltura.  It’s a plant that thrives in Corto Maltese. When someone consumes it, it makes them very susceptible to suggestion, and if given enough of it, they don’t remember anything they do when under its influence.”

“That’s almost word-for-word what he told me when he showed me this video.” Oliver spoke up.

“Why would he want to kill Sara though?”

“It complicated, and I’ll explain everything soon, but he did it to manipulate me into killing someone in order to protect you from them.” Oliver summarized.

“I- that woman was right, the one in black who kidnapped me. She was ranting about how Malcolm was guilty and that he was the devil. She was right.” Thea said. “Do you- are you- you probably hate me, you both probably hate me.”

“I could never hate you Speedy.”

“I don’t hate you, I hate Malcolm.” Felicity said bluntly. “You fired the arrows, yes, but he was the one who killed my best friend.”

 

Antiope stood in the back of the gym with her arms crossed. She was watching her newest pupil, Laurel Lance, train. Laurel stopped and turned to look at her. “Is this all we’re going to be doing?”

“For now, yes. A strong foundation is key.” She answered. “Before you can move on to sparring, you need to build up endurance in your muscles and power behind your attacks.”

“The bag doesn’t fight back.”

“No, but it does offer resistance. Every fighter, even the Arrow or your sister, starts somewhere. This is your starting point.” She saw Laurel’s surprised look at her reference to Sara. “I met your sister last year when she was away from Starling for a few weeks. I was also among the group who helped repel and defeat Slade Wilson’s army.”

“Do you- someone told you what happened to her, right?”

“Yes. I’m aware.” Antiope answered. “I think this is a good place to stop for the day.”

“No, let’s go out and I’ll prove to you that I’m ready.” Laurel insisted.

“Very well.”

 

“I hope your visit to Oliver Queen’s hideout was enlightening.” Ra’s told Nyssa when she walked into the League’s current hideout. “I do not see Al Saher with you, so I know it was not successful.”

“I never made it to inside his base. I was confronted just outside the building by Felicity of Themiscyra. She had some information to share with me that was particularly illuminating.”

“And what information did the princess share with you?”

“What happened to Sara, who killed her.”

Ra’s became angry when she said that. “Sara Lance? Why am I not surprised? She is dead and yet your devotion to her still clouds your judgement! Let me guess, now you wish to abandon this mission to hunt down her killer.”

“I don’t need to. We already are. Malcolm Merlyn killed her.” She didn’t elaborate beyond that. Ra’s didn’t ask for more details because he was tired of hearing Nyssa demand justice for Sara, and if he started questioning the information, she might stop accepting the information she’d been given. “She also all but told me that they had Malcolm Merlyn in their custody.”

“Why did he kill Taer Al Safher?”

“According to Princess Felicity, Merlyn’s intentions were to play the League and the Arrow against one another. To what end, she didn’t say.”

“I am not so easy to manipulate.”

“I told her as much. My words didn’t seem to convince her.” She informed him. She didn’t mention the somewhat valid point Felicity brought up about Ra’s only coming to Starling because of Donna. She knew her father would deny anything she said and had learned years ago not to ask her father about his brief relationship with an Amazon.

“Return to the Arrow’s base. Inform him, and his allies, that he has two days to hand Malcolm Merlyn over to face justice. Warn him that if he does not release Malcolm to us, the streets of Starling will begin to run red with blood.”


	45. Chapter 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The League and the Amazons prepare for war.

“Return to the Arrow’s base. Inform him, and his allies, that he has two days to hand Malcolm Merlyn over to face justice. Warn him that if he does not release Malcolm to us, the streets of Starling will begin to run red with blood.” Ra’s ordered Nyssa who didn’t move at first. “Is there a reason you are not following my orders?”

“I don’t agree with them.” She told him. “The people of Starling are not hiding Merlyn, the Arrow and Amazons are. Shouldn’t we be threatening them rather than people who have nothing to do with our quarrel and likely aren’t even aware he is still alive or in town?”

She’d been thinking a lot recently about Sara’s attitude towards killing. More specifically, her insistence that she couldn’t take the killing anymore and leaving the League. Following her death, she began to wonder how right Sara might’ve been. Ra’s and the League always insisted that it was honorable to kill those that needed killing, but what about the others? The ones who were potential witnesses, the one who accidentally got in the way, the ones who were killed to prove a point. Where was the honor in killing them? How many people, completely innocent people, had she killed in the course of obeying the will of Ra’s al Ghul?

“That is not the way we do things.” Ra’s said. “Something you are aware of. In the past, when someone in the village was murdered, we would come and kill 50 people a day until the true murderer was rooted out.”

“Your answer doesn’t refute my point. The situations are not the same. We know who killed Sara. We know where Malcolm is and who has him in their custody. Why threaten the city when we can easily go to war against the Amazons and the Arrow alone?”

“My decision is final and you will not change my mind on the matter.” Her father said, in lieu of a real answer. “Go inform the Arrow of our terms.” Nyssa grimaced, but left the room.

“And you wonder why she left you.” A voice said from the shadows. Felicity stepped into the light when Nyssa was gone. “My mother, I mean.”

“I am aware of why she left. Not many are able to sneak up on me.” He wondered why none of the assassins with him had informed him she was here.

“You have very good warriors with you, and they didn’t want to let me through, but I had to insist. I imagine they’ll wake up in like ten minutes.” She said. “That’s not the point. You wonder why she left and yet you act like this.”

“She left because I was dishonest with her.”

“She left because your philosophy goes against her core values. She wants to protect the innocent and you have no qualms against killing them in order to get what you want.” Felicity clarified. “Whatever feelings she did or didn’t have for you at the time is the only reason she didn’t kill you a hundred years ago.”

“Why did you follow my daughter here?”

“I didn’t follow her. I already knew where this place was, so I didn’t need to. I also knew you probably wouldn’t believe the warning I gave her about Malcolm. I don’t care about the politics of the League, but I care about keeping this city safe and I care about Malcolm getting what he deserves. I needed to know if you realized Malcolm was manipulating you, which you haven’t. You’re being manipulated precisely because you think you’re too smart to be manipulated.” She said. “You know, when my mother told me about you, I was expecting this military genius. Sad to see how much you fall short of my expectations.”

Donna had told her that Ra’s biggest flaw was his ego. Because he was the Demon Head, he was incredibly arrogant. He didn’t believe he could make a bad decision or that he could be beaten. She knew that saying that he wasn’t good enough, wasn’t cunning enough, would get under his skin, which was exactly what she wanted.

She turned to leave and he spoke. “Surrender Malcolm Merlyn to us or we will begin cleansing Starling City.”

“Threaten the people of this city again, and you won’t live to watch him die.” She said threw over her shoulder.

 

Felicity left the League’s hideout and began wandering the city. She needed to clear her head. She also wanted to keep an eye out for League members, suspecting they’d be looking for crowded areas where they could easily ‘cleanse’ the city. She didn’t want to have to kill them if it came down to it, but if Felicity had to choose between killing assassins or letting innocent people die, she’d kill every assassin she could find.

She was scoping out a somewhat busy plaza when she faintly heard the sounds of a scuffle. She left her post to see what was going on. She found a woman in all black fighting against a man who was much bigger than she was. She could also see there was another person in the alley watching the fight happen. The woman prevailed, barely, and looked over to the observer.

“See? I’m ready to move past just hitting a bag. I was able to stop him.”

“Barely.” Antiope responded.

Felicity moved out of her hiding spot and confronted the pair. “What are you doing here? With Laurel?”

“She’s been training me to fight like Sara.” Laurel answered, wondering why Oliver’s former assistant was here or why she cared what she did. “How do you know her?”

“She’s my aunt.”  Felicity responded. “You know you don’t have to be like Sara, right? If you’re doing this because you want to, that’s fine, but don’t do it because you feel like you have to.” She told her before turning to her aunt. “I need to talk with all of you.”

Antiope said goodbye to Laurel and went with Felicity back to Verdant. The other Amazons, Oliver, Roy, Digg and Thea were already there. When they walked in, Oliver told them Nyssa had visited with a warning to hand Malcolm over. Felicity told them she was aware but not willing to do that.

“I don’t give in to threats.” She said. “They want him, they can come get him. They wanna threaten a city full of people, we’ll show them that it won’t work.”

Two days passed with no word or activity on the League’s part. When the 48 hour time limit wore out, everyone took up spots in crowded areas of the city, expecting an attack. They weren’t disappointed. Four assassins showed up to a busy plaza. By the time the first civilian noticed their presence, they had their weapons drawn and were about to attack. Before they could, Felicity, Diana and two other Amazons arrived.

“Run!” Felicity shouted at the citizens before she started fighting back an assassin. “I thought I was clear with your boss. Guess he didn’t believe me.”


End file.
